The latest AI Pe Charcha session was held on July 28. The series of discussions, AI Pe Charcha has been initiated as a part of Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE-2020), India's first global AI summit, that was organized by MeitY in partnership with Industry & Academia from October 5 to October 9, 2020. It is designed as a series of thought leadership sessions between the esteemed government officers and Industry AI experts. This month's theme for the Charcha was 'How Telangana is shaping Digital Transformation through Artificial Intelligence.

The session had Leaders & Policymakers from ITE&C Department, the Government of Telangana, Industry Experts from Telangana AI Mission, Intel AI Centre, and Academia experts from IIT, Hyderabad. The speakers shared their experience on the adoption of AI to transform public service delivery. Telangana has been a leader in various digital initiatives and has been making commendable progress around AI and its use in multiple sectors. The idea of the session was to share insights among the participants about AI-led digital transformation in the State of Telangana. These learnings can be helpful for other states to replicate and take steps towards the larger good using AI.

The session started with the welcome note from Mr. Abhishek Singh, President, CEO, National e-Governance Division, CEO, MyGov and MD, Digital India Corporation. Mr. Singh said, "Telangana has implemented various AI initiatives, frameworks , projects, and has created various valuable and successful AI products and application. This can be helpful for other states and ministries to follow upon and learn from their model and replicate the same in creating more robust AI ecosystems." 

Mr. Singh added, "As a part of capacity building initiative under National e-Governance Division we seek to make these successful examples available for people to learn so that they can quickly adopt, customise, and roll out projects. With the technology swiftly changing we must act now."

The keynote speaker of the session, Mr. Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary ITE&C Department, Govt of Telangana in his keynote said, "We, in Telangana have focused on building solutions using technology for socio economic development with a multi-stakeholder approach."

"We are also trying to build a robust AI ecosystem in the state while taking care of industry requirements, international policies, international best practices while keeping startups and academia on board," added Mr. Ranjan.

He also shared that taking ownership had been a critical factor differentiating Telangana's AI success from other states. Having the right talent and the right kind of data sets are critical in achieving success towards mas AI implementation. Mr. Ranjan also extended his support and said he and his team are ready to share their framework, best practices, and ideas to help other states replicate the AI models.  

The next speaker for the session, Ms. Rama Devi Lanka, Director Emerging Technologies ITE&C Dept. Govt of Telangana, graced the event with insights into how AI is holistically utilized for various initiatives. She introduced various initiatives and projects like T-AIM, Cyber Security CoE, Blockchain District, Drone City, NCAM, and more. Ms. Lanka said, "the world is experiencing an AI revolution and in cognisance of the same, Telangana is on a mission to support the growth."

She further added that the key factors that have enabled the growth and expansion of AI are:

• The great volumes of digital data generated.
• The ease of data storage.
• Higher computing power. 

The session also witnessed key insights in the T-AIM program by Mr. Snehanshu Mitra, CEO of Telangana AI Mission. The government of Telangana State launched Telangana AI Mission (T-AIM) in partnership with NASSCOM as a part of its "2020 Year of AI" initiative. The vision is to establish Telangana as a global hub for Artificial Intelligence and leverage it for societal good. Mr. Snehanshu Mitra presented the strategic roadmap and key priorities for the current year of T-AIM's operations. He said that the team is focusing on utilizing the potential of AI in agriculture around precision farming, real-time price discovery, and farmer lending.

The next speaker Mr. Varma Konala, CEO, Intel AI Center, shared various technology insights around AI frameworks. He talked about the initiative INAI, an initiative to apply AI to population-scale problems in the context, combining research and translation. This effort is a collaborative effort, championed by Intel and catalyzed by the Govt of Telangana, and is anchored at IIIT Hyderabad. INAI will leverage the academic expertise in AI at KCIS, the broader computing strengths of IIIT-H, the framework and activities of iHub-Data.

Dr. Vineeth N Balasubramanian, Head (AI) & Associate Professor IIT Hyderabad, talked about the various unique facets of AI and the need for AI to become mainstream in various education programs. He added, "AI was once a vertical of computer science, but is now rather becoming horizontal across all disciplines. It now spans across CS, electrical engineering, mathematics, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and liberal arts too."

He also briefed the participants around various AI programs IIT Hyderabad is running to increase the exposure and create awareness among students and even people trying to build a career in AI, or just learn, for that matter.

At the end of each speaker's note, the QnA session also witnessed participants asking questions getting answers directly from experts. The session had speakers from diverse backgrounds leading to an engaging session for students, aspiring candidates planning a career in AI, people who want to learn about AI, and those who want to understand the frameworks. Such initiatives create awareness and encourage involvement from people.