Industry leaders’ opinion on PM Modi's call to make India a hub for artificial intelligence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and addressed the 5-day virtual RAISE 2020 (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment), summit being organized by the Government of India in partnership with various industries and academia. PM Modi said that the teamwork of artificial intelligence and humans could work wonders for the planet. He further added that India could become a global hub for artificial intelligence.

“It remains our collective responsibility to ensure trust in how AI is used. Algorithm Transparency is key to establishing this Trust. Equally important is accountability. We must protect the world against weaponisation of AI by Non-State Actors”, he said. Here is what Industry leaders have to say on PM Modi’s views.

Ritesh Deokar, Country Manager, Milestone Systems India

Events such as the Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) 2020 summit definitely acknowledges India's candidature to become the global hub for AI technology. AI is becoming more mature than before thanks to advanced deep learning algorithms, stronger processing power and wider availability of data. In the field of the security industry, Machine Learning (ML) has been employed for systems to be trained with large amounts of data both videos and images which can now detect objects with more accuracy and precision. As we look forward to the progress of Smart City projects in India, we can expect AI to play a pivotal role in regards to security management and enhancing public security and safety. Through open video management platforms, AI can help identify accident patterns, crime databases, and analyze and predict on potential mishaps or violence and more. AI has also helped with crowd management, predicting behaviour, tracking objects and enabling rapid response to incidents. For example, after the implementation of AI-powered safety systems, the crime rate dropped by 27% in the city of Surat in Gujarat. With the aid of AI technology, state-of-the-art video technology systems help keep our cities smart and safe.

Sudhakar Aruchamy, CTO, EverestIMS Technologies

In a country like India we see tremendous scope for infusing the power of AI into Social Empowerment. Many of these sectors are inimically important to the economic and social fabric of the nation. The capability sets in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning offer us a succinct opportunity to build better tools and solutions to help address issues within these domains. For example, Agriculture is one area where the application of technology has been relegated more towards the mechanical side. So can AI help tackle issues related to optimum planting and reaping time, water usage and how to navigate through times of drought? We see tremendous opportunities there. It would be exciting to see how the application of technology could alleviate traditional problems that have impacted efficiencies and outputs. Imagine the overall benefit to the nation! We are truly excited with the possibilities that RAISE 2020 could create and look forward to the momentum that it could generate.

Prashanth GJ, CEO, TechnoBind

Social inclusion is the biggest challenge facing India today. Various governments have tried many different strategies to make a change, but given our demographics and our bureaucracy we have always been challenged in moving ahead at the pace that is required. Artificial Intelligence has helped solve many problems across different areas of business - it is now time to get these learnings into mainstream to benefit the citizenry. The fact that this summit is being held in alliance with the industry and the academia will mean that the full benefit of the AI platforms can now be adapted for solving problems like Education, Healthcare, Social Security which has been the bane of Indian concerns ever since Independence. Social Empowerment being the central theme of this summit means that we will be truly exploiting the power of this powerful approach called AI to bring about the much needed social inclusion in India.

Gurpreet Singh, Managing Director, Arrow PC Network

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of industry veterans spoke about 'AI for All' and this is the key takeaway for the IT sector. In the current world there is a need for countries, enterprises and individuals to protect themselves against cyber threats. As of July 2020 Indian Artificial Intelligence market is valued at $6.4 Bn. There is a need for various sectors ranging from healthcare to defence or even government institutes to better their prospective in helping people. Building smart cities is the aim of many developed and developing countries and for all of this Artificial Intelligence is the key. India has the opportunity, chance and talent to lead the world into a new beginning with the help of AI. Most of the companies in India that are in the AI sector are MNCs, there is a need for more and more Indian companies to come up in the AI sector as it would also give a boost to the 'Make in India' drive helping the country becoming self-reliant and a major player on the AI sector. This initiative by the government is certainly a step towards making India a leader in the field of Artificial Intelligence."

Sandesh Goel, Managing Director, Eightfold.ai India

The Indian government's emphasis on promoting responsible AI here is a welcoming step. Not only does this emphasis help AI technology to receive wider acceptance, but also it will help businesses to understand the benefit that AI can bring. Until now, the benefit we are seeing from AI is only a small fraction of its potential. In the field of Talent Management, for example, AI is helping businesses to hire, engage and retain talent with a significant reduction in cost and time required. AI is changing many aspects of business for the better by enabling better decision making at all levels.