“I believe India is a grocery store of issues,” however we even have the potential to unravel all these issues, Mr. Umakant Soni, CEO, AI & Robotics Know-how Park (ARTPARK), stated when requested about India’s means to change into a frontrunner in AI.
“We’ve every kind of issues, if we have a look at transportation there’s a drawback, if we have a look at the climate, there’s a drawback. We have a look at roads, there’s a drawback, So, for AI, the issue knowledge is definitely very essential.”
Mr. Umakant Soni, who’s an alumni of IIT Kanpur, together with his quite a few years of expertise within the business behind him, is working in the direction of making India a frontrunner within the subject of AI.
Moreover creating some cool robots, ARTPARK has additionally undertaken varied different initiatives. In an unique interview with Analytics India Journal, Mr. Umakant Soni shares the imaginative and prescient for ARTPARK
and among the completely different initiatives they’ve undertaken.
ARTPARK
“We created ARTPARK to create breakthrough AI and robotics know-how corporations, which may influence 2 billion plus inhabitants by 2030.”
ARTPARK, which Mr. Umakant Soni, additionally co-founded, is a non-profit backed Govt of Karnataka and Dept of Science & Know-how, Govt of India, beneath the Indian Institute of Science (IISc)
With seed funding of INR 170 crores from the Division of Science Know-how, Govt. of India, beneath the Nationwide Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Bodily Programs (NM-ICPS) and INR 60 crore grant from Govt. of Karnataka, ARTPARK desires to create and increase the college analysis ecosystem in India.
Mr. Umakant Soni, who can also be an advisor for NITI Aayog, believes there’s ok analysis occurring in universities in India; nonetheless, they typically discover it troublesome to really translate that analysis into helpful merchandise or corporations that may scale.
“After I was at IIT Kanpur, we had been making an attempt to begin a startup primarily based on my analysis however we couldn’t do this, as a result of there was no ecosystem in any respect.”
Nonetheless, so much has modified since then.
“With every IITs and IIITs, we’ve created hubs and related them collectively. So this can be a large analysis ecosystem that India has created.
“So we really feel if the expertise could be made to work on the analysis that’s popping out, mixed with the entrepreneurial expertise, you recognize, we may even have nice corporations popping out.”
“We need to assist this college ecosystem via sufficient grant cash from the federal government of India and mix it with entrepreneurial expertise and the VC ecosystem. Now we’ve lately created a USD 100 million enterprise fund to assist the ecosystem.”
Robots developed by ARTPARK
XraySetu
“We see that if we actually need to allow well being care at scale, individuals need to be stored actually wholesome exterior of the hospitals. That is very essential.
“By 2030, it’s estimated that 80 per cent of the healthcare goes to be exterior of the hospital.”
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers at ARTPARK developed XraySetu, which is an AI mannequin developed in collaboration with HealthTech startup Niramai Well being Analytix.
The way it works is you are taking an image of an X-ray in your cellphone, ship it throughout via a chatbot on WhatsApp, and you’ll get a report about your lung well being in lower than 5 minutes.
(Supply: xraysetu.com)
“Once we first launched it, it was being utilized by a couple of docs in Uttar Karnataka. However what shocked us was that quickly greater than 10,000 docs and technicians had been utilizing XraySety throughout India. Not solely that, once we regarded on the logs, we realised that 20 plus international locations truly used it exterior of India.”
Now, ARTPARk is within the strategy of turning it into an organization.
Gold commonplace datasets
“Then one other factor that we’re making an attempt to do in healthcare is creating gold commonplace datasets.”
Most AI corporations use the funding to create good datasets to coach their AI algorithms, and this absorbs quite a lot of the funds they’ve raised.
“However what for those who may truly create these gold commonplace datasets and provide it to individuals to make use of proper in order that they don’t need to do every thing from scratch.”
To create these gold commonplace datasets, ARTPARK is working carefully with the Authorities of India and in addition with the non-public sector.
“To start with, we’re beginning with most cancers. Oral most cancers is a giant problem within the northern aspect of India. Cervical most cancers, too amongst ladies, is a priority. We really feel that if we will begin there and progressively go into increasingly illnesses, it might be a giant, huge sport changer.”
Gold commonplace language datasets
One other space the place ARTPARK is making an attempt to create gold commonplace datasets is in Indic languages.
“We really feel that the most important great thing about India is the variety in languages. We’re working throughout greater than 20 Indic languages.”
Not too long ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Mission Bhashini to assist ship internet content material in several Indic languages. The language datasets developed by ARTPARK will likely be important in reaching the targets of Mission Bhashini.
“We have to work out a method to make the native dialect extra considerable to the machine that you just’re simply making an attempt to know. And perhaps that’s the place the true AI will truly come out.”
Mission Eklavya
By leveraging AI and robotics, we will unlock human potential to the subsequent stage, Mr. Umakant Soni stated.
“One other huge space that we’re specializing in is schooling and studying as a result of when we now have spent billions of {dollars} in machine studying, we haven’t actually checked out it with that very same care and concern round human studying.”
“Right now, AI algorithms are studying to beat the Grandmasters in chess in simply seven to eight hours. That’s scary as a result of for those who’re not elevating human studying to the subsequent stage, then we probably are organising a really tough state of affairs the place people will be unable to distinguish themselves with respect to machines.”
Taking the instance of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, Mr. Umakant Soni stated that he was mesmerised by the way in which he moved to go a objective in a soccer match.
“And right here we’re, we’re making an attempt to work on this robotic canine, and, after all, it’s working, however the fluidity with which these athletes transfer is definitely exceptional, and that makes you realise the extent of human intelligence.”
“So in some sense, in making an attempt to create synthetic intelligence, we’re studying to understand human intelligence.”
Nonetheless, one of many largest challenges at this time is that our schooling system doesn’t respect human intelligence.
“We’ve been engaged on this experiential studying and taking a look at how we will change our colleges. How can we modify our faculties? How can we create one of the best atmosphere for these human brains to achieve their potential, which is limitless.
On this regard, ARTPARK is working with the Authorities of Karnataka and Aalto College, Finland, amongst different events.
Turning into a frontrunner in AI
Final yr, when former NITI Aayog CEO Amit Kant stated that India is well-positioned to change into a world chief in AI, it made us surprise if India can compete with the likes of China and the US relating to AI.
Mr. Umakant Soni thinks we will. India possesses the precise assets to attain these targets. We’ve the precise supply of expertise who can propel India in the direction of changing into a frontrunner in AI.
“I believe we’re there when it comes to expertise as effectively. I utterly agree. Round 11 per cent of high AI researchers are literally, you recognize, both born in India, or they’re Indian-origin individuals, so we do have cutting-edge expertise. Now with this entire NMI CPS mission, I believe we’ve been producing extra expertise,” Mr. Umakant Soni stated.
Now, the problem is to make use of these assets to their full potential and develop an ecosystem the place AI improvement can progress flawlessly.
“I believe with the NMI-CPS mission, we’re midway there with the nationwide AI mission additionally coming into play. It’s a billion {dollars} of funding in AI analysis and innovation, and this might actually propel AI improvement in India.”
“So for those who ask me by 2030, I see that few of those societal scale AI methods will likely be in play, and many of the governments will likely be making an attempt to leverage AI to run the advanced governing mechanism. So would India be taking part in your position in that drawback? As a frontrunner, I’d say there’s a really excessive chance that we might be a possible chief.”
In actual fact, India is the absolute best place to check out new know-how, based on Mr. Umakant Soni.
“If we will get self-driving vehicles to work on Silk Board in Bengaluru, it’s going to work within the US, it’s going to work in Europe, it’s going to work within the yard of Elon Musk as effectively,” he joked.
