India must focus on literacy to reap benefits of AI, says Vishal Sikka

At the AI Impact Summit, Indian-American entrepreneur Vishal Sikka called for large-scale AI literacy to empower over a billion Indians, saying the technology holds vast potential for new applications

Indian-American entrepreneur Vishal Sikka on Wednesday said that India must strengthen literacy efforts to ensure its people can harness the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and benefit from its growth.

 

At a panel discussion titled ‘Democratising AI Resources’ at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Sikka, founder and CEO of Vianai Systems, said, "We have to create a vast amount of literacy in India. So that over a billion people are able to leverage this tech and thrive because of it. The question is, how do we do that?"

 

Sikka, who has previously served as the CEO of Infosys, further drew a parallel with India’s Green Revolution, noting that it not only ended the country’s dependence on other nations for food but also transformed it into one of the world’s largest wheat suppliers.

 

 

"Similarly, we can bring a billion people into the world of AI. The question is whether we are able to see the goals the way we saw them back then. What the government is doing is really inspiring. Arguably, we are the leading country from the point of view of the government’s involvement in AI. So, I feel hopeful," Sikka said.

 

'AI belongs to all of us'

Responding to a question about who owns AI, he said, "Every time we engage with AI, we are sharing a bit of ourselves. It is a collective compression of the world’s knowledge. In some sense, it belongs to all of us. And yet it belongs to a handful of frontier labs."

 

Addressing concerns about jobs and talent, Sikka said with every new medium, it is initially difficult to imagine future applications.

 

"We are so panicked about what AI is going to do because of which we are not able to see the new applications possible," he said.

 

However, he added that "wondrous applications are possible" because of AI, and people should look ahead instead of focusing on what it could take away.