India key player in AI revolution

India has a significant stake in the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution and the best part is that the government is very open to partnering with the industry, not only for the advancement of AI technology in a responsible manner but also how skills can be scaled up in this space, Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India/South Asia, said on Sunday.

Patel said that to be ‘Atmanirbhar’ with AI, India must quickly establish itself as one of the hubs for AI adoption and innovation in the world.

“While progress is being made, there is scope to accelerate India’s AI story by connecting the dots between different domains -- policy making, investments that are going into AI, skilling and R&D,” said Patel.

“R&D will be very necessary. And we have to do all of this responsibly,” he added.

At the New Delhi declaration of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) last December, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised that the government’s endeavour is to take full advantage of the capabilities of AI for social development and inclusive growth.

“India is also fully committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI. We have started the 'National Programme on Artificial Intelligence'. We are also going to launch an AI mission in Bharat,” PM Modi had told the gathering.

The goal of this mission is to establish adequate capacity of AI compute power in ‘Bharat’. Under this mission, AI applications will be promoted in sectors like agriculture, health care and education. Patel said that the government plans to establish the centre of excellence (CoEs) in the AI space across different domains.

“The government is also serious about driving practical applications of this technology so it doesn’t just become experimentation or a sandbox kind of an activity,” he told.