Building an AI-Ready Workforce for Sri Lanka's Digital Future

Sri Lanka is at an inflection point. The question is not whether AI will reshape its economy — it already is. The question is whether Sri Lanka's youth will shape that future, or simply inherit it.

The government's ambition to build a 200,000-strong digitally skilled workforce by 2030 and its vision of a USD 15 billion digital economy are bold — and right. They signal something important: that the country's real competitive advantage will not be found in infrastructure or capital, but in its people.

I have seen this play out firsthand. Across South Asia, the nations and enterprises that are pulling ahead are not necessarily those with the deepest technology stacks. They are the ones that invested earliest and most deliberately in human capability. Talent is the variable that determines whether technology becomes a competitive edge or just a cost.

AI changes everything — and AI changes nothing about this fundamental truth. As intelligent agents take on more of the routine, what becomes irreplaceably valuable is exactly what young people can offer: creativity, contextual judgment, the ability to ask the right questions and lead with empathy. The future does not belong to AI. It belongs to people who know how to work with it.

That is why the collaboration between government, academia and industry is not a nice-to-have — it is the entire game. The skills gap will not be closed by any one actor alone.  On World Youth Skills Day, I want to say this plainly: Sri Lanka has the talent. What it needs is the ecosystem to grow it, challenge it and keep it. Build that — and the digital economy will follow.

Arundhati Bhattacharya

President & CEO for Salesforce - South Asia