RAISE 2020: ‘Artificial Intelligence’, the way forward for India

RAISE 2020

In the evening on October 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) 2020.’ Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Electronics & IT, Communications & Law & Justice; Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT; Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog; Professor Raj Reddy, Turing Awardee, Padma Bhushan awardee, former Co-Chair, US President’s IT Advisory Committee; Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Industries Ltd; and Dr Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM India were present at the occasion. The RAISE summit is a five-day summit and constitutes of 45 sessions from October 5-9, with the participation of around 300 speakers from the government, industry and academia.

At the inaugural ceremony, the PM emphasised that at every step of history, India has led the world in knowledge and learning and in today’s age of IT as well, India is making outstanding contributions. Further, he highlighted the government’s commitment to make India a hub for IT.

The 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… Our approach to this is powered by the core principles of teamwork, trust, collaboration, responsibility and inclusivity.”

Adding on, the PM underlined that India’s national programme for AI aims to rightfully use the tech for solving societal issues. He also highlighted that we must ensure that human intellect should always be a few steps ahead of AI. “While we discuss AI, let us also have no doubts that human creativity and human emotions continue to be our greatest strength. They are our unique advantage over machines. Even the smartest of AI cannot solve mankind’s problems without blending with our intellect”, said the PM.

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The IT minister in his address laid emphasis on developing AI capabilities in the country. He said that the government has set up AI centres of excellence and that more such centres will be set up to train the youth. Adding on, the minister said, “Technology at times overwhelms us, but we welcome AI to generate development and promote equity. India’s resource of demographic dividend will play a key role in promoting pools of skilled professionals to take the country’s AI ecosystem forward. India’s application of AI will become a beacon for the world.”

Mukesh Ambani, while addressing the summit, said India has the power of data generated by over a billion Indians that would catapult it to becoming a leading global AI player. Ata generation at such a huge capacity will unleash the proliferation of digital enterprises that will create faster growth, better standards of living and superior opportunities across society, he added.

Placing his point of view at the session, Dr Arvind Krishna said, “At a global level, AI will unlock USD 15.7 trillion in productivity by 2030 and it has the potential to not only boost economic growth but improve the livelihoods of millions around the world.”

Also Read: Why AI is only as good as the data they use?

Addressing the summit, Professor Reddy underlined the benefits of AI in bridging language gap in the country and improving resilience for managing pandemic situations. “Using AI, anyone can translate from any language to any language ride in a self-driving car and play Chess at Grandmaster level. Looking forward, we can expect AI to help eliminate lockdowns, replace one-size-fits-all education by personalizing education based on individual student capabilities and interests, watch any movie and talk to anyone in any language and empower the people at the bottom of the pyramid”, pointed our Dr Arvind.

A session on the way forward for transforming the world using AI followed the inaugural ceremony. The session featured tech talks by Professor Reddy, Kant, and Sawhney. The session was moderated by Abhishek Singh, President & CEO, NeGD and CEO, MyGov.

Also Read: At the Edge of 2020-21: A look back & forth

As of yet, over 61,000 stakeholders from academia, the research industry and government representatives from 140 countries have registered to participate in RAISE 2020.

From agriculture to fin-tech and healthcare to infrastructure, India is witnessing rapid development in the integration of artificial intelligence. On the back of its technological prowess and the richness of its data, India can become the AI laboratory of the world and contribute to inclusive development.

(With Inputs from PIB)
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