Artificial Intelligence - The Conclusion - Part 5

Read the first four parts here

Artificial Intelligence - A New Future - Part 1

Artificial Intelligence - Technical Nuances - Part 2

Artificial Intelligence - The Employment Scenario - Part 3

Artificial Intelligence - The Employment Scenario - Sector-wise Analysis - Part 4

Technology is coming and is going to come and it will be a key driver of growth in the future. Therefore, we need to change our perspective from Humans versus AI to Humans with AI. As Garry Kasparov rightly said, “The future is of “human plus machine combination” — merging the brute force of calculation, machines, and algorithms with human experience and strategic overview”.

Rather than looking at AI only from the angle of employment, we need to tilt our heads and look at its positive side too! Yes, at some point of time, technological advancement will surpass the rate at which jobs are created. But as job creation is dependent on multiple factors, who knows, something new might come up then? Maybe employment opportunities on Mars?

The reason why we need to look at AI from a positive perspective is that AI has enormous potential to shape India’s future. For the first time, we as a nation can dream of being self-sufficient. With a young population and the power of AI which will increase productivity, we can manufacture in India rather than importing goods and spending foreign exchange. It is estimated that AI will add US$957 billion to India’s economy by 2035. Many countries have already started investing and forming policies on AI. If innovative and progressive regulations are adopted, AI will be a solution to the majority of economic, social, and security problems.

The government’s first measure should be building a robust infrastructure to encourage research in AI. Building Research Laboratories, giving subsidy or tax benefits to start-ups in AI Space and initiatives like “Make in India”, “Digital India”, will go a long way in promoting homegrown technology and innovation.

The second measure should be to form a comprehensive education policy by including AI to ensure that the future generation is equipped with the right skill set to live in a fast-paced technology-driven world. The focus should be on STEM Based education i.e. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, to foster critical thinking. There is a need for the existing workforce to upskill and upgrade due to rapidly changing job opportunities, and the Government partnering with businesses can come up with a skill development program for the same.

The third measure will be to Apply AI Based technology in governance. AI will help map spending patterns, social media lifestyle, to income, ensuring minimum tax evasion and maximum revenue. This technology is being used in banking by an AI app called Lenddo, which mines data on digital lifestyle, location, check-ins by scanning one’s face, to generate a credit score. The government too can use an AI chatbot, wherein people can get answers to various queries from rules, to the status of their applications and new schemes and benefits introduced. From a national security standpoint, India should consider investing in AI for defense, like bomb defusing AI, ensuring minimum loss of life and better military foothold. (Do refer my first blog post where I have given examples of AI being used in the military by USA)

The fourth measure will be to use AI, to improve the lives of rural India, in areas like healthcare, education, finance, etc. For example, Grameen Guru, developed by Grameen foundation with Accenture, is a multilingual chatbot, to help people, who cannot read or understand written material. Using the app, one can hold the phone over written material for example – bank document and the app will explain the material in a simplified way, in the language preferred by the user. (Do refer my first blog post where I have given examples of AI being used in education and healthcare)

AI has a lot of potentials, but if used in bad faith, the results would be drastic. Eminent people like Elon Musk have claimed that “AI is summoning the demon”. Till now, Humans - the most intelligent beings - dominated the earth, but now the fear is robots being smarter, will start dominating us. AI can be used for hacking, creating weapons, etc. However, just because the fire destroyed our homes, it doesn’t mean that we stop using it, as it also provides comfort and safety.  Hence, in order to ensure that AI is not used in a bad way, the fifth measure would be to bring in regulations, which ensure the ethical usage of Artificial Intelligence. 

To summarise, technology if put in the right place, will be boost growth exponentially. Policymakers need to focus on innovation, education, and application to harness the power of AI. We the current generation are witness to a major industrial revolution, bigger than ever. Change is the way of life, change is stormy at the beginning and sunny at the end and AI, is riding this wave of change with full force, let us too ride along with it to the future of endless possibilities!