The Privilege of Exposure: Caste and Generative AI in India's Graduate Labour Market

Abstract

Who is exposed to generative AI in a developing-country labour market? We map three occupational AI-exposure indices to India's redesigned Periodic Labour Force Survey (2025) and document a steep caste gradient among 83,000 employed graduates: graduates from the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are 0.24--0.37 standard deviations less exposed than upper-caste graduates within the same district. Two channels drive the gap: one in four SC and one in three ST graduates work in farm or elementary occupations untouched by AI, and those in white-collar work are underrepresented in managerial, software, and finance occupations. Because exposure commands a wage premium of up to 20 per cent, generative AI stands to widen, not narrow, India's caste earnings gap.