Crafting India’s AI Journey: Data, Sovereignty, and Solutions
The AI4India Weekly #29
AI stands poised as the driving force behind the next wave of innovation, reshaping industries and government systems worldwide. Yet, as AI permeates our daily lives, a critical question looms: Do we have the right data to power it? This week's newsletter dives into the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence for India, exploring the urgent need for unbiased, localized, and high-quality data to build sovereign AI models. From addressing biases in global AI systems to developing specialized applications tailored for Indian needs, this edition outlines the path forward for a robust, inclusive AI ecosystem in India.
AI is the future. But do we have the right data?
by Alok Agrawal (With editorial contribution from Shashi Shekhar Vempati)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) holds immense promise for revolutionizing industries, but its success depends on access to quality data. Current AI models, especially large language models (LLMs), face significant challenges, including bias, hallucinations, and inaccuracies, which hinder their practical applications. These issues are particularly pronounced when applying global AI models to India, where local languages, culture, and data are underrepresented. Moreover, the lack of transparency regarding training datasets exacerbates these limitations. There is growing recognition of the need for sovereign AI solutions tailored to India’s unique requirements, ensuring that AI models are unbiased, accurate, and cost-effective.
India has a compelling case for developing its own AI models and datasets to reduce dependency on foreign technologies, address local challenges, and create jobs. Generalized AI models trained on global datasets often underperform in the Indian context due to a lack of representative data. Specialized AI models, designed for specific industries like healthcare or engineering, offer a solution by leveraging localized, high-quality datasets. However, this requires significant investment in data collection, refinement, and synthetic data generation. Initiatives like Karya, which employs rural women to create datasets, exemplify how AI development can simultaneously address data challenges and generate employment.
Special-purpose AI applications have transformative potential across sectors such as healthcare, governance, and education. For instance, AI-driven diagnostics in healthcare require training on localized medical data to account for genetic, dietary, and environmental variations unique to India. Companies like Pienomial and MastertechAI are pioneering specialized AI solutions, ranging from life sciences to automotive repairs, by leveraging targeted datasets. Similarly, advancements in computer vision models by firms like Paralaxiom Technologies showcase how AI can enhance public safety, traffic management, and robotics. By focusing on sovereign AI and domain-specific applications, India can harness AI's full potential while ensuring equitable development and inclusion.
AI4India Org, in partnership with CPRG (Center of Policy Research and Governance), has launched nationwide program #DataDaan – Donate for a Digital India. An initiative that intends to bring data owners and users together to seamlessly share data with consent and fairness.
AI4India at GPAI Summit 2024: Shashi Shekhar Vempati's Key Participation
Shashi Shekhar Vempati, co-founder of AI4India, will represent India at the 2024 Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit, to be held in Belgrade, Serbia, on December 4. A prominent advocate for responsible AI adoption, Vempati will join global leaders and AI experts to discuss the transformative potential of AI in emerging markets.
As a panelist in the session "Empowering Emerging Markets: The Role of AI in Job Creation and Economic Growth," he will share insights on how AI can serve as a catalyst for inclusive development, focusing on job creation and the economic empowerment of developing nations. The session will explore innovative AI applications tailored to the unique challenges and opportunities faced by emerging economies.
The GPAI Summit is organized by the OECD, providing a platform for collaborative discussions on AI's future across policy, innovation, and ethics. Vempati’s participation underscores AI4India’s commitment to shaping India's AI journey and contributing to global AI dialogues.
Stay tuned for more updates from the summit! Know more about the summit here
ONOS: India’s Leap Toward Open Knowledge Access
India has unveiled the Open National Open Subscription (ONOS) initiative, a groundbreaking step to provide nationwide access to scientific research. Under this initiative, the Indian government has negotiated a landmark deal granting access to over 13,000 scientific journals for researchers, academics, and students across the country.
This bold move positions India as a global leader in open access, enabling equitable access to critical research and fostering innovation across scientific disciplines. ONOS is particularly significant for researchers in underserved institutions, breaking down barriers to high-quality academic resources.
As the initiative unfolds, it is expected to catalyze advancements in fields such as AI, healthcare, and engineering by democratizing knowledge and enabling collaboration on a global scale. This development aligns with India's vision of becoming a knowledge superpower and highlights the importance of equitable access in driving research excellence.
In the News
Harnessing AI to Combat Cybercrime: PM Modi’s Call to Action - Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasizes leveraging AI's "double power" to address emerging threats from cybercrime and digital fraud. Policymakers and law enforcement are urged to integrate AI for enhanced digital security. Read more
AI Fights Forest Fires Across India - AI-based technology is being deployed to combat forest fires in several Indian states, revolutionizing how authorities detect and prevent fire outbreaks. This innovation is a critical step toward protecting India’s natural resources. Read more
RBI’s MuleHunter AI: A Game-Changer Against Financial Fraud - The Reserve Bank of India is promoting MuleHunter AI, a cutting-edge tool designed to identify and flag accounts involved in fraudulent activities, showcasing the role of AI in safeguarding the financial ecosystem. Read more
ElevenLabs Unveils GenFM for AI-Enhanced NotebookLM - AI innovation takes a leap with ElevenLabs' new GenFM, their latest addition to NotebookLM. This development aims to elevate productivity and creativity through advanced AI tools for professionals and researchers. Read more
#DataDaan - Donate for a Digital India
Aligned with the IndiaAI mission and the efforts from MeitY to ensure the availability of AI-usable data across govt, the #DataDaan campaign by AI4India.org is inviting participation from individuals and organizations to contribute valuable data for AI development in India. This initiative aims to gather diverse datasets to enrich the national data repository, supporting innovation across various sectors. We encourage everyone to read the detailed white paper on the campaign - https://bit.ly/DataDaan and fill out the form - http://bit.ly/3XfxD3H to contribute to this transformative effort.
We’ve also created a podcast on #DataDaan using Google’s NotebookLM, which transforms documents into engaging audio conversation. Listen to the podcast below!
This concerted push to make AI work for India highlights how data accessibility can unlock the potential for large-scale socio-economic transformation, driving innovation, and ensuring India’s competitive edge in the AI-driven global economy.
NOTE: The views expressed by the authors are their own. AI4India as a forum does not endorse any comments on specific brands, products, platforms or companies.
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