India's Gig Economy, Education & The Future of Work | Chetan Bhagat | Tomorrow Today

Episode of Tomorrow, Today · September 29, 2026 · 2 h 9 min

Shekhar Natarajan and novelist Chetan Bhagat discuss India's gig economy, education, inequality, AI governance and creativity, fame, and Bhagat's life story.

Summary

Host Shekhar Natarajan interviewed Indian novelist Chetan Bhagat, who had flown in from Dubai. Bhagat recounted his childhood in West Delhi with a strict army-colonel father and an agricultural-scientist mother, grandparents who fled Lahore during Partition, his first published school-magazine piece, early influences such as Catch-22 and R.K. Narayan, and the grind of preparing for IIT. He argued that boredom in a pre-internet era fostered his creativity.

A major segment concerned India's economy. Bhagat argued that education now transforms lives only for the elite few, that around 600,000 engineers graduate annually into too few jobs, and that many end up as delivery riders for platforms such as Zomato and Swiggy. He described much of India's internet economy as 'poor to rich' services built on cheap labor, questioned the long-term careers of gig workers, and described a K-shaped economy with stagnant entry-level salaries and low aspiration sustained by cheap data and food. Both men criticized India's hierarchical, feudal culture, which Bhagat said discourages questioning and science, and discussed belief in astrology and student suicides in Kota.

The conversation turned to artificial intelligence. Natarajan described his 'Angelic AI' approach, emphasizing intent sharing, perceptual alignment, cultural localization and moral consistency, and warned of 'algorithmic colonization' by a handful of model owners; Bhagat raised the Grok image-undressing controversy, AI-generated fake news, targeting, and chatbot sycophancy used as therapy. Bhagat said AI is a useful research and drafting assistant but poor at fiction because it lacks emotion and intent, and predicted that people will reject art known to be AI-made. He voiced concern about the atrophy of cognition, especially in India as a consumer rather than creator of AI.

Bhagat also discussed leaving banking for writing, tiring of Bollywood, and a shift at age 50 away from fame-driven hustle toward health, relationships and Vipassana, having moved to Dubai; Natarajan described leaving his corporate job after his son's birth. The episode closed with rapid-fire questions and Bhagat's advice to use natural intelligence alongside AI, stay positive, and 'make some money, make some muscles and make time for people you love.'

Chapters

1:14
Introduction
Natarajan welcomes Chetan Bhagat to the 43rd episode of Tomorrow, Today.
2:40
Childhood and the writing bug
Bhagat recalls boredom-fueled storytelling, his first school-magazine article and books that inspired him.
13:42
Partition and family roots
Bhagat describes his refugee grandparents from Lahore and the resilience of West Delhi's Punjabi community.
16:24
Education, engineers and the gig economy
Bhagat argues education only helps the elite and that surplus engineering graduates are becoming gig delivery workers amid rising inequality.
33:26
IIT preparation, science and astrology
The two compare IIT coaching experiences and discuss India's weak scientific culture, astrology and student suicides in Kota.
45:55
America versus India
Natarajan contrasts American aspiration and the American dream with its efficiency-driven downsides such as healthcare costs.
50:04
IIT life and Angelic AI
Bhagat recalls IIT friendships, and Natarajan explains retail waste and the intent-sharing problem in AI.
56:55
Governing AI
They debate the Grok deepfake controversy, jailbreaks, fake news, algorithmic colonization and chatbot sycophancy.
1:11:33
From banker to bestselling writer and beyond fame
Bhagat describes his banking career, his books, tiring of Bollywood and his change of priorities at 50, while Natarajan explains leaving his corporate job.
1:30:04
AI and creativity
Bhagat argues AI is a good assistant but cannot create true art, and discusses attention spans and AI-written books.
1:42:20
Advice for young people and the future of work
Bhagat urges young people to do hard things, discusses jobs AI cannot yet do, universal basic income, human nature and the atrophy of cognition.
1:56:58
Rapid-fire questions
Bhagat answers quick questions on books, banking, AI, Instagram and Indian teenagers.
2:04:13
Closing messages
Bhagat offers three messages on using AI sensibly, optimism and being a good human.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat credits his creativity to the boredom of a pre-internet childhood.
“That's why I always tell people I was very lucky to be in somewhat boring times because creativity only comes from bottom”
Listen from 3:19
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat argues that many Indian internet unicorns harness cheap labor of the poor to serve a small wealthy minority.
“we have a lot of poor people and we have their labor available at a pittance and almost more than half of the unicorns”
Listen from 18:13 · Gig economy in India
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat states that India produces around 600,000 engineers a year without enough jobs for them.
“6 lakh, 600,000 engineers are coming every year. And there's not enough job”
Listen from 19:07 · Engineering education in India
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat says entry-level salaries for graduates have barely changed since he left IIT in 1995.
“I remember when I was in IIT, I mean, 95, the salaries when we were getting out were like same one and a half, two lakhs a year. It's still the same”
Listen from 27:56 · Economic inequality in India
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat argues many Indians are content with low aspiration as long as data and food remain cheap.
“In Hindi, they call it sasta data, sasta atta. Which means data is cheap and dough, flour is cheap”
Listen from 29:44 · Economic inequality in India
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat describes Kota landlords installing steel mesh around ceiling fans to prevent student suicides.
“They cover the fan in a mesh, steel mesh, so that you can't hang yourself”
Listen from 43:05 · Engineering education in India
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat argues that India's hierarchical culture of unquestioned elders produces a subordinate society hostile to science.
“That creates a certain slave-like society, subordinate kind of society. Science by definition means questioning what's going on”
Listen from 44:04
Shekhar Natarajan
Natarajan states that vast amounts of unsold new products are discarded in the United States due to inefficient supply chains.
“Like in the United States, $890 billion of product is thrown into landfill”
Listen from 53:39
Shekhar Natarajan
Natarajan argues that AI models cannot grasp user intent, making them dangerous if ungoverned.
“So intent sharing is a huge problem in AI. So your intention is not known”
Listen from 54:39 · AI alignment
Shekhar Natarajan
Natarajan praises Anthropic for resisting government pressure.
“I give kudos to Anthropic because they said, you know what, we're not going to be enslaved by the government”
Listen from 1:05:48 · AI alignment
Shekhar Natarajan
Natarajan describes AI as a new form of colonization in which model owners impose their values on others.
“Now colonization is algorithmic expansion, right? So whatever I think is right and however I think is right is what like I'll enforce on you”
Listen from 1:07:09 · Artificial intelligence
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat describes his decades of hustle as driven by insecurity, likening himself to a rat with its tail on fire.
“So if you have a rat whose tail's on fire, he's going to run the fastest”
Listen from 1:16:40 · Fame
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat says he stopped making films because working in Bollywood became draining.
“I just got tired of Bollywood. It's very, very draining to work with those people with like lower IQ than you”
Listen from 1:16:47 · Fame
Linked moment · 1:30:04Skip to 1:30:04 using a listen link in the info box.
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat says he has tried having AI write his books and found it terrible at fiction.
“I'll say write a Chetan Bhagat book and take it out. I won't have to do anything. But it's terrible. It sucks. At fiction especially”
Listen from 1:30:26 · Artificial intelligence in creative writing
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat notes that no AI-written book has become a bestseller and argues people want human connection in art.
“Not one book has become a bestseller written by AI”
Listen from 1:33:38 · Artificial intelligence in creative writing
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat recounts being paid to launch dozens of AI-written or even blank books at mass events.
“I launched 30 books in two hours. Nobody's there in the audience”
Listen from 1:41:01 · Artificial intelligence in creative writing
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat suggests automation of white- and blue-collar work will push societies toward universal basic income.
“It is going towards what Elon Musk has been saying that there will be a universal basic income”
Listen from 1:46:32 · Universal basic income
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat predicts serious AI disasters will occur before humanity learns to regulate it, as with nuclear weapons.
“So we will have disasters in AI, very bad ones. And then we will learn”
Listen from 1:51:45 · Artificial intelligence
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat warns that India, as a consumer rather than creator of AI, risks losing critical thinking among its youth.
“We are consumers of AI. We are not creators of AI”
Listen from 1:54:18 · Artificial intelligence
Chetan Bhagat
Bhagat advises people to self-regulate their AI use and combine it with their own thinking.
“Use your NI along with AI. Use your natural intelligence along with artificial intelligence”
Listen from 2:04:24 · Artificial intelligence

People

In the conversation

Shekhar NatarajanIndian-born entrepreneur and supply-chain executive, host of Tomorrow, Today
Chetan BhagatIndian novelist, columnist and former investment banker, author of Five Point Someone and 2 States

Discussed

Amitabh BachchanIndian film actor whose movies inspired Bhagat's childhood storytelling
Joseph HellerAmerican author of Catch-22, a book Bhagat cited as a key influence
R.K. NarayanIndian author of Malgudi Days, whose simple English style Bhagat admired
Elon MuskEntrepreneur behind X, xAI and SpaceX, discussed in AI competition
Marco RubioU.S. Secretary of State who defended the Iran campaign at a cabinet meeting
Sundar PichaiGoogle CEO, mentioned regarding control of AI values
Taylor SwiftAmerican singer-songwriter cited as an example of public love-and-hate cycles

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From the publisher

In this thought-provoking episode of Tomorrow Today, host Shekhar Natarajan sits down with Chetan Bhagat to explore India's changing employment landscape and the rapid growth of the gig economy. The conversation examines the gap between educational aspirations and real career opportunities, the growing number of engineering graduates, and why many young people are turning to delivery and platform-based work. Chetan also questions what the future holds for gig workers as technology and AI continue to transform the service economy raising important questions about sustainable careers, dignity of work, education, and India's future workforce. #ChetanBhagat #ChetanBhagatPodcast #ShekharNatarajan #ShekharNatarajanPodcast #TomorrowToday #TomorrowTodayShow #GigEconomy #FutureOfWork #India #IndianEconomy #YouthEmployment #JobsInIndia #GigWorkers #IndianYouth #Education #EngineeringJobs #Career #Workforce #DigitalEconomy #ServiceEconomy #Technology #AI #AIAndJobs #FutureOfJobs #Entrepreneurship #IndianWorkforce

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 30, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: Society & Culture·Technology·Books