For months, leading voices in artificial intelligence warned that entry-level white-collar jobs were at risk of disappearing. But Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar S. believes those fears were overstated. According to a report by Fortune, speaking at the Fortune’s COO Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, he said, “There was a little bit of fearmongering… I think there will be more jobs.” Cognizant, which has more than 350,000 people, hired 20,000 entry-level graduates last year and expects that number to grow in 2026. Kumar talked about Cognizant’s new AI Builder strategy which introduces positions such as Frontier Certified Engineer and Frontier Business Operator. Unlike traditional tech roles, these do not require a technical background.Kumar explained that these candidates could be history majors, biology graduates or even HR accountants, as long as they can work with agentic AI tools like Claude terminals they can join the company. The initiative reflects Cognizant’s belief that AI will reshape the workforce pyramid, flattening middle layers while creating opportunities at the entry and leadership levels.“It could be a history major with skills to identify and use agentic work. It could be a biology major known as life sciences. It could be an HR accountant who can use agentic Claude terminals around them,” Kumar said, speaking with Fortune’s executive editorial director Diane Brady.
Redefining the workforce pyramid
As per Kumar, AI will increasingly occupy the ‘middle layers’ of corporate workflows, handling validation, verification, and authentication tasks. Entry-level workers will remain vital, as will leaders guiding strategy, but the middle tiers will become leaner. “AIs will be in the middle of a flow. You want to have a ton of jobs in the front, you will have a ton of jobs in the back,” he said.Cognizant CEO feels AI will reshape organisational structuresKumar also described a future where AI reshapes organizational structures. Entry‑level workers and senior leaders will remain essential, but the middle layers — traditionally filled with managers and analysts — will shrink. “AIs will be in the middle of a flow. You want to have a ton of jobs in the front, you will have a ton of jobs in the back,” he explained. “These are going to be validation and verification jobs, and those are going to be authentication jobs. Now, when you have a flat‑earth pyramid, the biggest challenge is the middle layers are going to be leaner.”
Moving beyond token metrics
Kumar also criticized the industry’s reliance on token consumption as a measure of productivity. Companies like Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI have used token metrics to track AI efficiency, but Kumar dismissed this as a “vanity metric.” Instead, he argued that productivity should be measured by outcomes, not inputs. “We have to go from delivering projects, delivering billable hours, owning outcomes, and finally we have to underwrite those outcomes and be paid for those outcomes. I think that is the future,” he said.
