Data annotation or labelling as the name suggest is the process by which the unstructured data stored in the form of text, images, videos are identified, whereby the computer can easily draw inferences from it. The quality of the output provided by the model highly depends on the data annotation process. 

 Indika AI is a data labelling company offering end-to-end exceptional quality data annotation- across computer vision, natural language processing and content services. We got in touch with Hardik Dave, the Founder and CEO of Indika AI, who shared with us his vision, scope and the services he provides in the AI sphere. “The biggest constraint in the adoption of AI is the underlying challenges concerning Data Quality,” he said while in conversation with Jibu Elias, Content and Research Lead at INDIAai.

Significance of Data Annotation

AI is said to be the new electricity that would change every aspect of our life and the way we do business. The question is, how do we train the AI model to enable it to have the human intelligence needed for doing the required task. Here comes the importance of data annotation techniques. The AI models are trained by labelling the data inputted in them. Once, the computer sees examples of all labelled data whether it be images, texts or videos, it would be able to learn and initiate the essential tasks. 

Image shows: Examples of data labelling

According to Hardik Dave, “The major struggle that AI companies face in the process of Data annotation is the requirement of relevant domain expertise, skilled talent, and good process to oversee the work”. The biggest benefit of India in the field of data annotation is the fact that it has a young workforce that is tech-savvy, multi-lingual and skilled across all domains. And they are available at a better labour cost when compared to western countries. 

Services of Indika AI in the AI sphere

Based in Mumbai, Indika AI provides AI Training Data Collection & Labelling, Search Evaluation and Content Moderation Services. “We are working with some of the leading AI companies across the globe to help them train their AI Models with High-Quality Training Data,” Says Hardik Dave. They ensure quality through strong domain expertise, skilled talent, dedicated project teams, streamlined processes for client onboarding, project execution and quality control. Besides data labelling, they have been teaming up with e-commerce and social media companies to help them with Search Evaluation and Content Moderation Services with a specific focus on moderate content in Indian regional languages.

Scope of Data Annotation: what are the HRs looking for?

The data annotation process is much more complex in fields such as Medical AI, Finance, RegTech, Legal Services etc., where labelling is not possible without strong domain expertise. Quoting Hardik Dave, “This has given birth to an altogether new data labelling industry which is now valued USD 2.6 Billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at CAGR of 27.7% over the coming years”. With the increase in the number of data annotation companies in India, there are higher possibilities of career opportunities in the field as well. 

Indika AI hires on a full-time basis, project-based and as interns, on domains such as finance, law, medical, media, fashion, agriculture science, linguistic course, computer science, data science as well as all other graduation steams. Teaming up with several academic institutions and non-profit organisations, the company adds to their talent pool, train them and hire based on their interest and availability. Currently following are the pools hired in Indika AI:

1. Data Annotators: A talent pool of 10,000 people from India from all academic domains. The candidate should be graduate and computer literate.
2. Language experts: A talent pool of 5,000 people from India who has command over any of the Indian regional languages (including English) for transcriptions and content moderation related jobs.

Hardik Dave, Founder & CEO of Indika AI

Indika AI’s area of work, and recognitions:

They have been a part of the NASSCOM startups program, NVIDIA Inception Program, and was recognised by Startup India as well as Meity Startups. They have also been selected as Top 10 Computer Vision Startups in India by CIO Review Magazine. The firm has teamed up with the Hong Kong Government along with a partner for the Cleantech AI project and is looking forward to working with the Government of India and the Indian Military to make the country AI-ready.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash