The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is ubiquitous, and more and more organisations are adopting AI in their operations, which leads to massive-scale changes in their functioning. These massive transformations pose challenges and opportunities. At the same time, they create immense challenges for employees' adjustment to the new learning and skilling requirements posed by AI.

At the Global IndiaAI Summit 2024, organised at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, a session was held on "IndiaAI: Empowering Talent through AI Education & Skilling". Ms. Shweta Khurana, Sr. Director APJ - Government Partnerships & Initiatives, Global Government Affairs Group, Intel, moderated the discussion. Other panellists included Dr. Madan Mohan Tripathi, Director General, NIELIT; Mr. Amit Singhee, CTO, IBM; Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman of National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), Chairman of EC National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) and Chairman NBA; Ms. Joyce Poan; Chief of Education, UNESCO; Mr. Raghav Gupta, Managing Director - India & Asia-Pacific at Coursera; Mr. Prakash Kumar, CEO, Wadhwani Government Digital Transformation; Mr. Amit Kumar Pandey, CTO, Space Robotics & AI.

Prof. T G Sitharam, Chairman, AICTE, delivered the keynote address for the session. Shedding light on how AI becomes the main driver of the emerging tech, Prof. Sitharam remarked that GenAI will continue to be a tech innovator in the foreseeable future. He emphasised the need for technical education in the country. 

"Future of Indian education with a focus on AI presents exciting opportunities for innovation, personalised learning and improved educational outcomes", he remarked. 

According to Prof Sitharam, the goal should be to create a technically sound workforce with advanced skill sets. "Statistics indicate that AI market size is expected to reach $126 billion by 2030, with global opportunities in AI projected to be 97 million by 2025," he added.

The session moderator, Shweta Khurana, identified that India's AI challenges differ from other nations.

AI education in India

Speaking about improving AI education in India, Prof. Anil remarked that India is a nation that has the power of 'natural talent'. More than providing education, we need more opportunities for students to showcase their talent. He suggested leveraging AI to identify the pitfalls of students. In his opinion, "even examination papers should be personalised and should focus on finding what the students know rather than what they don't know".

Joyce Poan suggested a 'humanistic approach' which supports ethical oversight and responsible governance in AI. "By emphasising ethics, we can use AI for better good. Ethics in AI is the cornerstone of talent development and skilling", she added.

Dr. Madan Mohan Tripathi recommended a three-stage structure for creating the right mindset and skillset to make the future generation AI-ready. The first stage comprises creating degree and diploma programs for skilling, AI literacy programs, sector-specific programs, and teacher training programs. The second stage focuses on creating an equally distributed infrastructure, and the final stage recommends creating a data repository.

Stronger in AI

"An IBM study about global AI adoption found that in India, 59% of enterprises have already deployed AI, and 27% are experimenting with the technology", said Mr Amit Singhee, speaking about India's growth in the AI space. This number, according to Amit, was the highest among other countries. 

India needs to enhance its research capacity by creating in-house research spaces. Joint research widens the scope and talent pool. Furthermore, the nation must ensure that the talent pool created stays in the country. 

Raghav Gupta raised the need to provide all people with access to AI education. For instance, IIT Guwahati started an AI course through Coursera—initiatives such as this have enhanced the accessibility of high-quality education, which is otherwise confined to reputed educational institutions.

AI adoption has become stronger in India's tech space, academia, and government sector. "Out of 3.6 million government officials, 10% of them have completed their course on introduction to emerging technology on iGot," said Mr. Prakash Kumar.