AI for All: Empowering District Development through Inclusive Education and Skill-Building Initiatives
In a bid to harness the full potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for economic growth, tech industry leaders and policymakers gathered in Chennai to discuss the importance of AI adoption across various sectors, including education.
Prof B Ravindran, head of Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras, emphasized the need for widespread AI adoption, regardless of profession. "You don't even have to be in an engineering college to use AI tools," he said. "It's like how you use computers today – everybody should know how to use AI in their profession."
Ravindran also highlighted the challenges faced by AI technology when translated into real-world applications, particularly in countries with diverse laboratory conditions. However, he stressed that building Indian solutions requires collaboration with domain experts and users.
Suresh Sambandam, founder and CEO of Kissflow, emphasized the importance of inclusive development to fuel economic growth. "Distributing development will make each district an economic powerhouse," he said. "We need to shift our mindset from job seekers to job creators and rekindle the entrepreneurial spirit."
Vanitha Venugopal, chief executive of Tamil Nadu Technology Hub (iTNT hub), spoke about the state's 'cafeteria approach' to education, allowing students across streams to access technological learning ecosystems. The government-led deeptech incubator has also launched initiatives to set up internet centers in colleges and provide basic digital literacy.
The iTNT hub recently conducted its Technovate for India programme, a 18-month campaign aimed at encouraging students to digitally skill themselves and build startups that solve big problems. Jones Joseph, COO of Talrop, added that building an ecosystem is crucial to reducing the failure rate of startups.
The program's objective is to skilling over 35 lakh students across 35 states and Union territories in the next 18 months, making AI accessible to everyone, regardless of their location or socio-economic background.