The 3rd edition of the 2-day virtual NASSCOM XperienceAI Virtual Summit, with the theme 'Making AI Real', kicked off today. The aim is to bring conversations on the scale and the need to maximise the full value of AI. At the summit, the entire AI ecosystem came together to discuss building, regulating and implementing for necessary impact and will attempt to answer questions on challenges and roadblocks

In the keynote session titled 'The NASSCOM Perspective: The Real Strong Force of The Techade', Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, six key areas for the industry to look upon:

• First, there is a need not to treat AI in silos; the AI strategy has to get integrated into the overall corporate strategy. It has to solve key business problems, and many companies are making that mistake where AI is still treated in a silo, which needs to change.
• Second, there is a need to increase the overall spending on AI. Today, nearly 67% of the companies surveyed allocate less than 10% of their budget to AI. 
• Third, to get the most out of AI, there is a need to have an end-to-end data strategy that doesn't just talk about success but takes care of other crucial aspects, including access, data utilisation, security, and ethics as well.
• Fourth, it is important to know how to create a data culture in the company because it's not just about how much data one has; one can have tons of data, but what really matters is how well one is using the data to create insights to improve the productivity. It is the data that can help better understand customers.
• Fifth, the lack of talent is still visible on a large scale. Much of the attention needs to be on the skilling part, as it is required to unlock the full potential of AI in India, and she believes this to be the job one.
• Last but not least, the companies need to pay attention to a bigger question - what is your lab-to-market strategy? A lot of companies are still in the stage of doing PoC (Proof of Concept) but still haven't thought through how they will scale the projects.

Maximising impact and scale were the main focus of the first day of the event. The discussion topics include things like the mapping of the AI maturity index, mature AI adoption use cases, and the application of AI to major problems. The second day's emphasis will be on AI and cutting-edge technologies. It will cover the upcoming developments in AI, how AI is integrating with new technologies and the true promise of AI. The event will also include inspiring stories, use case talks, special keynotes, and learning workshops.

The summit will see 1000+ attendees from across sectors, interacting with over 40 speakers. AI is a game changer for corporations, society, and our planet. A life that is more fulfilling can be achieved by applying AI in the best possible ways.

One can register and watch the virtual summit here.