New Delhi, Aug. 17 -- In my last piece, I wrote about the forward deployed engineer (FDE). TCS's recent announcement that it intends to create up to 8,900 FDEs is one of the more revealing developments in enterprise AI this year.

The number matters less than what it represents. Across consulting firms, hyperscalers and technology services companies, a race is on to create professionals capable of mediation between increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) systems and complex enterprises. The last mile, so to speak.

Palantir institutionalized the idea by embedding engineers in client organizations rather than leaving them at the receiving end of a 'requirements' document. The premise was simple: enterprise AI projects fail ...