Artificial intelligence (AI) and the innovations surrounding it have significantly altered the way that industries, consumers, and businesses operate nowadays. Governments and organizations around the world are investing in and focusing heavily on AI, as it provides results that are recognizably superior, swifter, and based on actual data that are scientifically processed.
Data is the basic building block for any AI system. India, with over 700 million internet subscribers, generates massive amounts of data daily. These put India at the forefront of the AI revolution, where the commitment to using AI for the common good while addressing privacy and ethical concerns can be addressed suitably.
With a vast pool of AI-trained workforce, India has a unique opportunity to be a major contributor to AI-driven solutions that can reach the masses and benefit a large section of society. The country also hosts a large pool of AI-trained workforce.
Our leading technology institutes have the potential to be the cradle of AI researchers and startups.
Adoption of AI will supplement the digital revolution in India across most of the government sectors and enterprises and will facilitate the penetration of technology for the benefit of the masses.
The percolation of AI and related technologies within a large spectrum of society and disparate sectors calls for an interdisciplinary approach. Extended AI teams, collaborating across the cognitive and other sciences, will eventually fulfill the mission of “AI for All” in India. The impact of AI techniques can be predicted in the following spheres:
Social sciences such as sociology and economics
Knowledge Engineering such as linguistics, logic, and predicate systems
Neuroscience and biology, including molecular biology, biochemistry, and genetics
Physical sciences such as physics, chemistry, material science, and environmental science
In the context of India, AI-driven solutions, thus, can revolutionize manufacturing, banking and financial, healthcare, agriculture, education, defense, skill development, and other multifarious sectors that will eventually lead to the path of social empowerment and a technology adaptable by the masses. Three significant areas which AI can transform and touch the lives of the Indian population are narrated in the following sections.
Weather prediction: Agriculture is dependent on climate, and so the use of AI for forecasting the weather is the most obvious use case.
Crop monitoring using image processing: Use of use satellites, drones, or robots are now predominant to take images of the crop and thereafter, use image processing technology to assess the crop for:
Monitoring of pests
Determination of current yield size
Yield prediction (forecasting)
Monitoring soil health: Possible cultivation defects and nutrient deficiencies in the soil condition can be efficiently monitored and conducted by utilizing Al image processing techniques and predictive remedies, e.g., advanced application of relevant herbicides, pesticides, or fertilizer variants can be adopted to prevent crop yield failure.
Smart irrigation: The AI system will be aware of historical weather patterns, soil quality, and the kind of crops to be grown. Smart irrigation will ensure that the AI system acts as a mentor to guide the irrigation process, forecast issues, and prescribe remedial measures in time to increase average yields.
Disease management: AI makes it possible to access the data and learn from hundreds of thousands of patient cases distributed across the nation. AI may use these large data sets to empower the government and authorized healthcare professionals and healthcare institutions to adequately predict and conduct disease management based on age, geographical spread, immunity, lifestyle, and other dependent parameters.
Predicting prognosis: Deep learning algorithms may provide better insights to clinicians in predicting prognosis and future events in patients.
Early detection: AI may facilitate early detection of diseases by capturing and analyzing various vitals of patients and therefore, can help in prevention.
Intelligent transport systems: With the help of AI, real-time dynamic decisions on traffic flows are possible. A few examples are:
Lane monitoring
Allocating right of way to emergency vehicles (Police car, ambulance, etc.)
Enforcing traffic regulations through smart ticketing
Generation of accident heat maps to ensure extra control and precaution of traffic movements in accident-prone zones.
The adoption of AI in the context of India might not be uniform or linear with respect to time but could build up at an accelerating pace in time intervals with periods of sluggishness in between. A slower start due to the substantial costs and investment associated with learning and deploying these technologies and then accelerated adaptation driven by the cumulative effect of improvement in complementary capabilities alongside process innovations with tangible benefits is predicted.
To achieve this goal, AI needs to be extensively introduced in all sectors ranging from agriculture, financial services, transportation, healthcare, energy, manufacturing, and logistics to create a vibrant AI economy. This must be adequately supported by the government financially and complimented by inducting awareness and skill among the masses on the benefits of AI adoption. It remains our collective responsibility to ensure trust in how AI is used and the benefits achieved thereof. The key to establishing this trust is by implementing adequate data security measures and the protection of personal data.