Rewriting the Code: How AI-era CTOs are building technology that earns human trust
Artificial Intelligence has become the most powerful force shaping business today but also the most misunderstood. As organisations grapple with ethical dilemmas, workforce anxiety, and unpredictable disruption, a new kind of leader is emerging: the AI-era CTO, who is not just a technologist, but a strategist, ethicist, and builder of belief.
At People Matters TechHR India 2025, a rare coalition of India’s top tech leaders will take the stage to answer the defining question of our time: How do we build intelligent systems that earn human trust? Whether it’s reskilling at scale, architecting transparent AI systems, or leading with data dignity and sustainability, Dr. Shakti Goel, Chief Architect and Data Scientist, Yatra Online Ltd.com; Sanjay Mohan, Group CTO, MakeMyTrip; Nikhil Bhushan, CTO, Starbucks India; Mukesh Jain, CTO, Capgemini and Mukul Saxena, President & CTO, Havells India are not just solving technical problems they’re reimagining what responsible innovation looks like.
These leaders are confronting the hard truths of AI head-on that codes can be biased, automation can alienate and progress without purpose is regression in disguise.
This is the story of how they’re rewriting the rules not just for AI, but for leadership itself. And how People Matters TechHR India 2025 is providing a platform for HR, tech and business leaders to come together to define what the next chapter of AI-powered work must look like.
Alleviating workforce anxiety: Rehumanising tech at Starbqucks and Yatra.com
Nikhil Bhushan, CTO, Starbucks India, believes that the real AI challenge is not just technological—it’s emotional. In a workforce where AI can be perceived as a threat to relevance, he’s focusing on fostering trust and transparency. Starbucks is deploying AI not to replace jobs, but to elevate them—automating operational friction while reskilling frontline teams in digital customer experience, personalisation, and predictive insights.
Similarly, Dr. Shakti Goel, Chief Architect and Data Scientist at Yatra.com, is driving AI-led travel intelligence while ensuring that engineers, product managers, and customer service reps are continuously upskilled in real-time analytics and human-machine collaboration. His approach to ‘reskilling as a culture, not a campaign’ is helping Yatra build resilience amidst constant tech churn.
Ethical AI development and governance: Capgemini’s Mukesh Jain on building with integrity
As CTO of Capgemini, Mukesh Jain stands at the intersection of global delivery and responsible innovation. With AI solutions deployed across sectors, he champions AI governance frameworks that embed fairness, inclusivity, and auditability right from model design to deployment. Capgemini’s governance stack includes ethics reviews, bias detection tools, and a clear accountability map, a blueprint that other enterprises are starting to emulate.
Transparency, explainability, and trust: MakeMyTrip’s quest for understandable AI
Sanjay Mohan, Group CTO at MakeMyTrip, is on a mission to make AI less of a black box. With millions of travel interactions flowing through AI-driven systems, explainability is no longer optional—it’s a competitive differentiator. From dynamic pricing to fraud detection, Mohan is implementing human-in-the-loop design principles, ensuring that systems are auditable, interpretable, and responsive. At People Matters TechHR India 2025, he’ll unpack how his team is designing trust-centric systems not just for customers, but for employees navigating automated workflows and decision support tools.
Data ethics and privacy: Havells India’s Mukul Saxena on securing AI at scale
For Mukul Saxena, President & CTO of Havells India, the AI conversation begins with data—but quickly moves to duty. As smart homes and IoT ecosystems generate unprecedented volumes of behavioral data, Saxena is shaping protocols that ensure data privacy, consent frameworks, and zero-trust architecture. At TechHR India 2025, Saxena will explore the industrial-AI frontier and how companies like Havells are walking the tightrope between innovation and intrusion.
Sustainable AI: Why green code is smart code
Beyond ethics and performance lies a looming challenge: AI’s environmental impact. Training large language models and deploying edge AI at scale demands energy-aware architectures and carbon-efficient data centers. Across the board, our featured CTOs are taking steps to reduce AI’s environmental footprint. Whether it’s energy-optimised algorithms at Starbucks, model lifecycle management at MakeMyTrip, or edge computing innovation at Havells, the new playbook includes a green chapter.
A must-attend moment for people leaders
In an age where AI shapes not just technology, but trust, talent, and transformation, the CHRO and CTO must collaborate like never before. From ethical design to emotional intelligence, this is your front-row seat to the future of AI and the leaders rewriting its code.
Be there. Be future-ready.
Register now to be part of TechHR India 2025 where the dialogue begins.