Sriram Raghavan, General Manager of IBM Software India and Software Innovation Lab, stated that artificial intelligence (AI) agents will accelerate the software creation process and transform developer functions. He also emphasized the necessity for enterprises to strengthen cybersecurity, governance, and personnel skills.
According to Raghavan's estimates, up to two billion AI agents could eventually be deployed globally, with AI writing half of all code. He clarified that the proliferation of these agents will not lead to the disappearance of software development but, on the contrary, will trigger the creation of significantly more software, fundamentally changing developers' work and technology building methods in companies.
At the IBM Think event in Mumbai, Raghavan told Business Standard that there is likely to be an increase in the volume of software produced. He noted that AI has already caused significant changes in software development concerning team organization, workflow management, and the software creation process itself.
The role of the developer is undergoing a fundamental shift: instead of writing code, specialists are now engaged in monitoring, verifying, and critically evaluating the results generated by AI. Raghavan stressed that this is a skills change requiring different training for developers.
He compared this trend to the automation of electronic design in the semiconductor industry. According to him, automation has allowed engineers to develop increasingly complex chips without eliminating the need for hardware engineers. Raghavan expects a similar transformation in the software sphere, where automation will enable the creation of more applications but will require new competencies.
Expertise in this area is now focused on verification, validation, strategy definition, setting constraints, and directing AI to perform the correct tasks. Raghavan believes that this is the direction software engineering is moving. He predicts that more software will be produced in the next two to three years than ever before, as innovation opportunities have become unprecedented, and value now lies in ideas and their implementation, rather than in the creation of code itself.
Nevertheless, Raghavan warned that the growing use of AI will not diminish the importance of fundamental engineering skills; on the contrary, judgment and core skills are becoming even more important.
Responding to questions about recent security issues related to new AI models, Raghavan stated that the adoption of AI is radically changing the cybersecurity landscape. He noted that one must think about cybersecurity in a completely different way because of AI. Raghavan emphasized that proactive, continuous integration of best practices and technologies into vulnerability management and risk prioritization based on AI is vitally necessary. He added that the company's proposals reflect this approach, insisting on the need to integrate AI into defense alongside concerns about AI misuse.
Regarding risks associated with unintended actions by AI agents, Raghavan advised enterprises to implement stricter controls over agent identifiers, permissions, and access to internal systems. Agents should only be granted the minimum necessary permissions to perform a specific task, rather than broad access to all corporate systems. He explained that an agent only needs a certificate and a token to perform an action on behalf of a user for 30 seconds. Furthermore, he highlighted the importance of constant monitoring, as AI systems do not always behave predictably, unlike traditional software.
AI Adoption in India
Referencing an IBM study conducted jointly with MeitY earlier this year, Raghavan reported that only about 15 percent of Indian enterprises have reached the stage of scaling AI adoption, while the remaining 85 percent continue to face difficulties. Companies that successfully scale AI have moved beyond isolated use cases and are integrating the technology across their entire structure.
According to Raghavan, approximately 15% of enterprises are truly scaling AI, meaning they have passed the stage of implementing one case that was integrated into the organization and may be moving to a second or third case. For the remaining companies, the main obstacles remain data governance, corporate governance, and a shortage of skilled personnel.


