The AI4India Weekly #1
Welcome to the First Edition of “AI4India Weekly”
AI4India.org is dedicated to democratising access to artificial intelligence (AI) for all Indians, regardless of background. Our mission is to foster inclusive growth and societal empowerment through AI, emphasising ethical practices and responsible development. With a focus on five key themes—bolstering the AI technology ecosystem, tailoring AI applications for Indian society, advocating for ethical AI policies, fostering AI capabilities, and addressing strategic initiatives—AI4India.org seeks to drive meaningful progress in the field.
Introducing the first edition of the AI4India Weekly newsletter, our objective is to engage readers in critical thinking about the developments in and around the field of Artificial Intelligence across India. Through curated content and thought-provoking insights, AI4India Weekly aims to stimulate discussions and inspire action, advancing the conversation on AI's role in shaping India's future.
Indian AI Needs Publicly Accessible Datasets
by Shashi Shekhar Vempati
While Data may be the new Oil, Indian AI can scarcely afford for it to be prospected through private Oil Fields. AI promises to revolutionise industries from healthcare to agriculture, yet we in India are faced with a significant barrier— the scarcity of accessible, large-scale public datasets that capture the uniquely Indian context and are representative of our socio-economic, cultural/linguistic diversity .
India’s unique demographic and socio-economic landscape presents a plethora of challenges and opportunities that differ markedly from those in the West. Consequently, AI models trained on datasets predominantly composed of Western data points either falter when applied here or completely misrepresent the Indian context. This gap can only be bridged by the creation of robust, localised datasets that fuel innovations tailored to Indian needs.
Why, then, should large organisations, public bodies, government agencies, corporates, and NGOs consider donating their data to a common public repository?
By making diverse datasets publicly available, we can empower our startups, developers, and researchers to innovate, experiment, and develop solutions that cater specifically to Indian contexts. This democratisation of data could spur a fertile environment for technological creativity and India specific breakthroughs.
An open data ecosystem can help our startups to compete globally and position India as a leader within the global AI landscape where today we significantly lag other nations despite boasting of one of the largest talent pools. Under the aegis of ‘AI for India’, efforts are underway to persuade sharing of datasets for a range of applications ranging from using computer vision for public safety to applying audio fingerprinting to protect creative works.
The moment calls for broadening these efforts by collectively advocating for policies that encourage data sharing while respecting privacy and data security. ‘AI4India.org’ is looking to work with like-minded bodies on the establishment of a public data repository into which all stakeholders can donate datasets to help catalyse the Indian AI ecosystem’s growth in both public and national interest.
Can we unite government, corporates, and civil society in this endeavour to share datasets with our startups and researchers to foster AI innovation for a Viksit Bharat ?
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