On Day 2, the first session, a panel discussion on Data & AI-powered Financial Services saw Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education tracing the history of AI, and resonating with Dr. Raj Reddy’s incredible narrative, the previous day. Pai explained how things have changed and why China has committed to invest 150 billion dollars in AI (by 2022). Be it on the edge, core, or end-point, there’s been a massive increase in data generation. From 45 zettabytes of data currently, we will leapfrog to 175 zettabytes in the next 2 – 3 years. India, in particular, with 650 million internet users has a very high monthly average data consumption of 10.6 GB, and on average, Indians spend 4 hours daily glued to their mobile phones.

The emphasis is on the value that can be extracted from all of this. And, the crisis has accelerated digital adoption journeys many times over. Plummeting storage costs, massive computing power coupled with a humongous amount of data generation has changed the landscape, For those who have delayed their AI adoption journeys, the clarion call couldn’t have been louder. Either one is AI-First or AI-Next. And the gap is widening.

Evidence of how serious this gap is can be seen in the digital monopolies being created (Re: FAANG companies). While they continue to grow and expand their services portfolio at a frightening speed it makes us think if it’s time to have a Universal Declaration of Digital Rights?

Pai, while touching upon concepts such as No Walled Garden (a platformization approach using Open Source Software), Banking as a Service, Democratization of investment through AI, and serving Bottom of the Pyramid, also made a strong case for talent creation & retention.

Our next speaker Mr. Krishnan Dharmarajan, Executive Director of CDFI took the cue to expand on social empowerment through AI. For instance, how do we determine who to serve, at what time, and how? Also, is there a way to combat fraud particularly when it hits the vulnerable sections? He also deliberated on chatbots and how they can be made effective in service delivery. Data privacy & confidentiality were the other areas where he drew special emphasis.

Ms. Keyzom Massally, Asia-Pacific Regional Lead, Better Than Cash Alliance, UNCDP pushed for digital cash. AI can expand its outreach and foray into areas that have not been explored. We need to push for AI without bias that treats people with fairness, especially those who are vulnerable. Breathtaking as these developments are, there are moral & political implications that make policymaking a not-so-easy job, a far cry from the passive do-no-harm approach. Users, irrespective of their wallet-size must be treated with dignity to create a level playing field.

Mr. Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO, NCPI spoke about targeted services using AI. While speaking on a whole range of applications such as Robo Advisories, video KYC, high-frequency trading, he distinguished between AI in decision-making mode and those supporting decision-making and augmenting the human in the loop.

Mr. Rabi Sankar, Asst GM, RBI introduced a very interesting idea, the unacceptability of Black Box Ignorance. There has to be a definitive audit trail of data access while laying out the steps undertaken to collect the information. The other principles that he

spoke about are legality & transparency in data sourcing, the integrity of data collection, data privacy & accountability, and monetization.

Mr. Kanishka Agiwal, Head AI/ML India South Asia Amazon Internet Services made a strong case for agility in a cloud environment while removing latency, building global businesses right out of India using cloud architecture, reducing cost (pay as per usage), and creating differentiated services. He explained how AWS can serve a variety of needs for individuals, organizations, governments, and financial institutions.

Mr. Vivek Raghavan, Chief Product Manager, and Biometric Architect, Aadhaar, spoke about open source models and some of the astounding work that’s being done. AI solutions, if they have to address the needs of Atmanirbhar Bharat, will have to integrate with the existing national platforms and work within the ecosystem. He also touched upon some of the areas that Aadhaar was working, and expanding on the idea of inclusive growth.

Mr. Ashutosh Chadha, VP & Head Public Policy and Government Affairs, South-Asia, Mastercard, spoke on the importance of TRUST in a data-driven economy and why it’s relevant for everyone – individuals, governments, and organizations. Besides, he covered some of the modeling techniques using data from various sources and behavioral intelligence to carve out micro-credit programs for farmers with small-holdings. Speaking extensively on data governance, he warned us against rigidity that impinges on innovation.

Finally, Mr. Ankush Sabharwal, Founder & CEO of CoRover enthralled us by showcasing some of the astonishing features of his chatbots spanning across industry-wide applications. He believes that there may be a possibility that chatbots may replace websites in the future.

A special mention must also be made of Mr. Abhishek Singh, CEO, MyGov for playing the role of sutradhar most efficiently and stitching together an incredible narrative where inclusivity is the new normal!

• Written by Soumitra Dasgupta, edited by Sindhuja Balaji