CIOInsider India Magazine
The AI Times!
Finally, the Indian Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape is getting the traction it deserves. In fact, it’s an amazing time to be in the industry. According to a research report by AnalyticsIndia, the Indian Artificial Intelligence market is valued at around $6.4 billion as of August 2020. While the government is starting to power its vigorous AI plans for the future, the private sector, however, has no plan to hold back. Almost all the tech majors in the country are executing their AI plans to perfection, often by joining hands with the government.
Recently, PM Narendra Modi had shared his AI vision for the country and highlighted that India's National program on AI will be dedicated towards the rightful use of AI in solving societal problems. He was inaugurating the 'Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) 2020' Summit – a virtual global summit towards powering India with the advantage of Artificial Intelligence. PM said, “India has also proved to be the powerhouse of the global IT services industry. We will continue to digitally excel and delight the world. We want India to become a global hub for AI. Many Indians are already working in this area. I hope many more do so in the times to come. Our approach to this is powered by the core principles of teamwork, trust, collaboration, responsibility and inclusivity.”
As the PM rightly said, the adoption of tech-led innovations is of paramount importance when it comes to solving India-centric societal challenges in segments like healthcare, smart mobility and the future of work. Needless to say, it is not all a one-man mission. The government, academia, and the
technology industry should join forces to bolster the AI movement and technology as whole for that matter.
Addressing the RAISE Summit, Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd, said, “When 1.3 billion Indians are digitally empowered, they will unleash proliferation of digital enterprises that will create faster growth, better standards of living and superior opportunities across society.” Reliance’s initiatives towards the aforementioned goal has, however, been exemplary.
As India continues its transformation, the public-private partnerships are going to be the key
Of late, one among the other tech giants that has set an example towards this exceptional goal is Intel India. The tech major has joined forces with the government of Telangana, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) to launch INAI (INtel AI), an applied artificial intelligence (AI) research center in Hyderabad. The INAI endeavors to apply AI to population-scale problems in the Indian context. Coupled with the ecosystem collaboration, the center will focus on identifying and solving challenges in the healthcare and smart mobility segments.
“With its unique strengths of talent, technology, data availability, and the potential for population-scale AI adoption, India has this tremendous opportunity to lead human-centric applications and democratize AI for the world. Our aspiration is to make AI synonymous with India as we strive to achieve the true potential of AI in critical segments like healthcare, smart mobility and the future of work by advancing innovation, research, technology and skills,” says Intel, Nivruti Rai, Intel country head for India and vice president of the Data Platforms Group.
INAI is poised to become a catalyst to accelerate India’s AI endeavors by driving innovation and entrepreneurship, creating national assets such as curated datasets, computing infrastructure, tools and frameworks with the aim to attract global talent for high-impact research towards social sector development.
As India continues its transformation, the public-private partnerships are going to be the key, while academia is also set to play an instrumental role. It’s beyond any reasonable doubt that AI, among all other futuristic technologies, is going to play decisive role in this transformation. Quite lucidly, the opportunities are there for the taking; so are the challenges.
