India needs to export talents skilled in AI: Microsoft Vice Chair

Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith on Thursday said India needs to export talents skilled in artificial intelligence.

While speaking at a US-India Strategic Partnership Forum event, Smith said the health of democracies is at stake and there is a need to find new ways to sustain economic growth.

"The future of India in many ways will involve not just bringing talent to the countries but bringing more talents with a background in AI," Smith said.

He said there is a need to develop responsible AI which fundamentally serves the principle that matters to humanity like security, privacy, and inclusion.

Smith said the role of AI is to enhance productivity in a smarter way and there is a need to develop it through partnerships between educators and entrepreneurs, among countries like India and US.

"There is no doubt, you can go anywhere in the world and if you find a talented company, I bet you will find a talented person who grew up in India. When you go to the United States, you will find about 6 million of them including my boss Satya Nadela," he said.

Smith was speaking after an on-stage conversation with Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on "US-India Partnership: Bridging the Skill Gap".

During the conversation, Chandrasekhar said India is setting up skills centres in 30 countries to meet the local requirements on demand of the government overseas.

He said before the pandemic, there were some countries who were averse to taking Indian talent but after Covid, those same countries started demanding talents from India.

The minister said India has enhanced its focus on digital skilling of the talents in India because technology cuts across the sectors.