NEW DELHI, Dec 5:
IT and IT-enabled services companies should explore building AI-based solutions to address sector-specific problems, which have the potential to create new jobs, a senior government official said on Friday.
While speaking at a conference organised by the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), electronics and IT Secretary S Krishnan said that people may think that India has fallen behind race in the development of AI large models due to the lack of massive compute infrastructure, but the country can have an edge in adoption of AI models in a manner that makes a difference to people in the broader economy.
“You don’t need very large elements. What you perhaps need are sector-specific, purpose-built, limited models which apply to that sector and are able to solve issues and provide the critical solutions related to that sector. That is the direction in which we would expect India’s large software industry, IT-ITes industry, to go in the days to come,” Krishnan said.
He said it is a sort of Y2K moment for the Indian IT industry.
“So it’s not about job losses, but it’s more about the newer kind of jobs which get created,” Krishnan said.
He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly said that it is essential to look at AI as a technology which yields a lot of possibilities.
“We do not unleash technologies which cause harm. But equally, it’s important to recognise that we have to adapt them in such a way that they deliver good and they deliver the huge promise of good that they hold,” Krishnan said.
He said that the digital public infrastructure (DPI) developed by India is being used by some countries overseas.
DPI comprises technology solutions like Aadhaar, UPI, cowin platform, etc. that help in lowering the cost of services in their respective sector with ease.
Krishnan said that NISG should aspire to be the government’s own strategic partner of choice when it comes to leveraging and using technology in different spheres of governance, not just in India, but even overseas.
“The Ministry of External Affairs is looking at technology-based diplomacy as the next real tool for India to make its mark, particularly in the global south,” Krishnan said.
He said DPIs can be leveraged to increase India’s own range of influence and make sure that they work both for the countries where they are deployed and, at the same time, they benefit the country in terms of the work required to deploy them.
Krishnan said Meity (the ministry of electronics and IT) has decided to establish an international centre for DPI innovation and advancement, which has been approved and sanctioned to be established in NISG.
He said that the institution will enable the government to study across different geographies about the current state of play on the deployment of DPIs. (PTI)
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