India, Nov. 17 -- Anand Mahindra has warned of "a far bigger crisis" at hand amid fears that AI will wipe out white-collar jobs.

"For decades, we pushed degrees and desk jobs to the top of 'aspirational' ladder and quietly pushed skilled trades to the bottom," the chairman of the namesake conglomerate that makes software to SUVs wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "Yet, these are the jobs AI cannot replace: they require judgement, dexterity, apprenticeship, and real-world expertise."

To be sure, Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley had alluded to the same talent scarcity at the company that invented the assembly line.

Speaking on the 'Office Hours: Business Edition' podcast, Farley had said that Ford has 5,000 vacant mechanic jobs-many paying $120,...