Wipro CTO believes adoption to AI easy but highlights risks

Wipro’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Sandhya Arun said that agentic AI (systems capable of taking autonomous actions to achieve goals) was once seen as a major challenge for enterprises but is now moving into the mainstream as companies learn to address risks around security, privacy and explainability.

Speaking at a roundtable with journalists, Arun said that chief information and security officers across industries are now building internal frameworks and checklists to safely integrate AI technologies into their environments.

"The biggest risks enterprises worry about are security, safety, data privacy, and whether AI is really giving accurate answers. Explainability has been a big concern, but both technology providers and enterprises have made major progress in de-risking these areas," she said.

According to Arun, Wipro is playing an active role in mitigating these risks.

The company's proprietary solutions, such as WDIS (which prepares enterprise data for AI) and Vega, a generative AI platform endorsed by Nvidia, are designed to deliver more context-aware, explainable outcomes for clients.

Vega has already been deployed in specialised training areas, including domain-specific use cases like tourism, and has helped Wipro secure multiple global deals.

She added that AI adoption is no longer confined to innovation labs. "It's the entire enterprise. We have a strong global data and AI practice with thousands of specialists, and everything we do is applied innovation, solving business problems and creating opportunities for clients," Arun explained.

On the operational front, Wipro has embedded agentic AI into both internal and client projects. The company's "client zero" approach means its own CIO team pilots new AI solutions before they are rolled out to customers.

"Almost every aspect of IT or business processes at Wipro has agentic AI solutions built in today, and adoption continues to grow," Arun said.

When asked about measuring efficiency gains, Arun said client outcomes are tracked through multiple metrics, ranging from productivity and cycle time to quality and reduction in rework. "It's no longer just about effort saved but how quickly we can deliver high-quality, production-ready code," she added.

Importantly, she said that developer buy-in has not been an obstacle. "Convincing is no longer required; everybody is experimenting with AI today. The bigger focus is structured training," Arun said.

Wipro is investing heavily in reskilling its workforce, ensuring employees are well-versed not just in prompt engineering but also in software architecture, agile delivery, data privacy, security and responsible AI practices. Even senior leaders and board members have undergone AI training and certifications.

Arun also mentioned that Wipro's Innovation Network, which brings together in-house researchers, startups backed by Wipro Ventures, and technology partners such as Microsoft, Google, AWS and Nvidia.

The company's internal network includes technical staff members, experts who combine deep tech research with client-focused innovation. Through Wipro Ventures, the IT major also invests in promising AI startups, helping them scale enterprise-ready solutions while bringing cutting-edge technology to clients.

"Disruption is so rapid that closed labs no longer suffice. We've built a network that combines our employees, ventures and hyperscaler partners, so that innovation is applied, scalable and always client-centric," Arun said.