Artificial intelligence (AI) may appear to be an emerging industry today — but its roots are steeped in the 1950s. As the world is grappling with several challenges to understand new-age technologies like AI, ML, and IoT, there are some like Shalini Kapoor — IBM Fellow, CTO for AI Applications — who have been leading from the front and shaping up the landscape to make it future-ready. 

Currently, Kapoor leads AI infusion and skills transformation across the AI Applications business unit. She is responsible for the adoption of Watson technologies within IBM and embedding them in their products and services. Furthermore, she leads learning of AI technologies for all employees through AI projects and courses. 

To understand this better, Jibu Elias — Content and Research Head of INDIAai had a freewheeling chat with Kapoor, to delve deep into her journey, challenges, and what the future holds for the industry. 

Foray into AI

Kapoor has been associated with IBM for over two decades now — interestingly, she began working in the area of IoT, much before her counterparts. As someone who was responsible for launching a range of products and solutions, a realization dawned upon her that there was a huge amount of data that was being generated from IoT devices that could be leveraged to bring in new insights. 

“That’s when I started working on a pure AI product that I seeded in the India software labs. It was about how one could reduce energy consumption in an office on a particular day, depending on the number of people, the weather outside, and more? It is here that I saw the power of AI — the very fact that employee data was being captured by RFID tags and access cards, or taking information from smart metres on energy consumption; that’s what started me on my AI journey,” she shared. 

Over the course of time, she enrolled in courses in AI, both within IBM as well as in Coursera. During this period, she learned more about algorithms — how the new ones have developed and the way machine learning algorithms function, the intricacies of deep learning, and understanding various aspects of AI use cases that can be applied to different industries.

In her current role at IBM, Kapoor infuses life into old products by integrating AI and enhancing its efficiency. Alongside, she has also gained a deeper understanding of AI skill sets over the years and has emerged as a champion for AI skills within IBM. That’s not all — the enterprising leader has also been instrumental in bringing AI into the CBSE curriculum. 

AI and sustainability

Kapoor leads the engineering and product roadmap and technical strategy that looks at integrating climate risk algorithms into their portfolio. There’s a product that revolves around environmental intelligence, and those working on it are spread across the globe. She is also the head of the India software labs from a technology perspective, helping the teams grow, vitalize, and understand a range of AI programs. 

Climate risk is a big area that they are tackling through their solutions. Speaking about this detail, Kapoor shared that with regard to this, there are massive geospatial datasets that take into account weather conditions, the number of floods that have happened, or the topology of a particular area. When this information is available at hand, AI is applied to it to create several forecast models that can help industries like the aviation sector. 

In this manner, AI can also be utilized from an ecological perspective to carry out vegetation management, if a power line has to be laid without cutting trees and causing damage. Similarly, when it comes to supply chain sustainability, it helps in zeroing the right vendor and procurement.

“AI is only going to help sustainability achieve its goal faster. To battle climate risk, we can leverage the geospatial analytics available at hand. It cannot happen until you have AI-infused completely into the area of climate risk,” she added.

Bringing in more women in AI 

Kapoor believes that there aren’t as many women as there should be in the field of AI. While there are several efforts to push them into making a career in this field, it is essential that their entry happens at an early stage. For instance, there aren’t many who do not pursue STEM programs, which is what needs to change. 

“I believe that girls and their families have to understand that they can take up Science, at an early stage. That’s because the Indian education system doesn’t have the provision where you can take up the subject in college, if you haven’t earlier,” she explained. 

There is also a dire need for more role women models in AI, so that they speak about their journey in science and inspire others. Adding that women are best suited for AI, Kapoor shared that since it is an interdisciplinary skill, they fare better. What’s essential is to dissipate the fear of AI and treat it in a simplistic manner, so that people do not think it’s as tough.