Prof Pushpak Bhattacharyya is a professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. A veteran researcher in the field of Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), he is also the former director of IIT Patna.

During an exclusive interaction with INDIAai, Prof Bhattacharyya has dispensed some invaluable pearls of wisdom for all AI practitioners and enthusiasts. An eminent academician, renowned researcher and illustrious teacher, his words are sure to be a source of immense inspiration for anyone trying to achieve success in the field of Artificial Intelligence.

Message for AI students

Over a career spanning three decades, he has directly guided more than 300 students for their PhD, Masters or Undergraduate research. When we asked him to extend the privilege of his counsel to our valuable readers, this is what he had to say:

“I love working with my students and I believe it is a very synergistic relationship. One thing I tell my students is to be very respectful of the fundamentals; foundations are so important. These days, there are large number of ML and DL tools by which you can solve a problem quite easily without understanding its nitty-gritties, constraints and factors that make it really challenging. But first and foremost, have an insight into the problem you want to solve. Thoroughly dissect the problem and understand what it demands. Then, have very strong foundation on mathematical techniques, probability, linear algebra, statistics and data science. If it is an NLP product, for example, have a very good grip on linguistics; if it is robotics, have a really good grip on Physics, Mechanics, Kinematics, Kinetics. So, understand the problem and gather mastery over everything that is needed to solve the problem.

If you're using NLP to solve judicial cases automatically, read the judgments which are openly available. For that, if you have to read, let’s say, 150 documents on agreements, MOU and contracts, do it. Do that hard work and burn your fingers with the data – that's very important. If you're working on robotics, then work actually with the robot mechanisms. Do not do only theory and mathematical equation – do hands-on with the robotic system.

So burning the fingers with data, working with actual systems, having a strong foundation on mathematics, probability and, if it is NLP then linguistics, dissecting a problem, understanding its constraints, is my main message to the students."

Message for AI researchers

Dr Bhattacharyya has this message for all AI researchers who are struggling to go the extra mile from having their papers published to actually seeing their projects deployed:

"For deploying a system and making an impact in the society and people's lives, technology is one component – very important component, but still just one component of the whole ecosystem. I would say, you need to understand finance; you have to understand marketing; you have to understand the legal framework. So anybody wanting to take their work to a level where it impacts people's life and society should respect all these together. They must have a holistic view of not only technology and science, but also finance, marketing, law. Take a complete view and have a strong will to succeed in making the impact."

• Also Read | Leading with AI: Dr Pushpak Bhattacharyya of IIT-B on his love for linguistics and NLP

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