New Delhi, March 15 -- The small equity-research shop Citrini recently sent a panic through financial markets when it outlined a scenario in which AI ends most white-collar employment by 2028, with dire consequences for the broader economy. But this forecast is surely too pessimistic in some respects. Outside a few sectors, like software, frictions to adoption and sheer inertia will probably slow the pace of change.

This has always been the case. For example, although automated telephone exchanges were possible in the 1920s, the last human telephone operator in the US was not replaced until the 1980s.

Moreover, the technology itself is always only one variable. There also must be processes and structures around it to assure customers of...