A general framework for Cloud-driven AI needed, says Jio executive

Jio aims to provide subscription-based AI services to small businesses across sectors

A general framework prioritising cloud-driven artificial intelligence (AI) and storing data in the country will be needed to fully utilise the potential of AI in India, according to a top Reliance Jio official.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the India Mobile Congress, he said Jio envisioned AI-services expanding to all sectors with wide-ranging use cases across education, health care, and retail.

“AI will change everything, not just telecom. For that AI cloud is needed as a framework. If you do not have access to every premise, do not have storage, do not have modern features running on AI-cloud, India will remain behind,” he said.

Developed internally, Jio’s AI modelling tools are aimed at connecting a variety of devices connected to cloud. The company already holds the proprietary technology to connect these devices, according to him. 

High on cloud

Jio envisions a situation where customer-premises equipment is reduced in capacity, which cuts cost and does more than half the data processing on cloud.

“Most in-hand or at-home devices are expensive. The processing power of such devices should be reduced. Instead, data-processing capabilities should be pushed to cloud, with the use of Edge data centres, which provide low-latency connectivity and the network should be made intelligent,” he said.

He pointed to the telco’s low-price internet-enabled range of JioBharat phones, which has a limited memory and processing power, but can still render 750 TV channels as a result of the cloud connection.

In education AI can help students in government schools with poorer access to resources, and easily use a screen to tinker with how the lander of the Indian Space Research Organisation can be brought down on the moon.

Jio wants to provide AI-driven service to small enterprises such as automatic customer identification and messaging tools at affordable monthly subscription rates.

“A major retailer notes down customer birthdays and sends messages on every successive birthday and anniversaries of the purchase. If we give them a plug-and-play tool in which an AI automatically does the job, he will pay for the service,” he said.

The huge amount of data generated as a result will be valuable commercially and should not move out of India, Jio says.

“We are not built as only a telco. We are built as a digital-service company. Our vision is that India should be a digital society,” the official said.

For this, the company has aligned the devices, core technologies such as blockchain and machine learning, and the integration of applications, he said.