Digital India Dialogues for Leaders is an initiative to build digital readiness on emerging technologies like AI, IoT, 5G and blockchain among government leaders and policy makers. It entails a series of 100 webinars for leaders and relevant stakeholders within government. It is a joint effort by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Intel India, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The second session in the series sought to demystify AI through a two-hour workshop held on 16th June. The context for the same was set in the welcome note by Mr Vinay Thakur, (PhD), COO, National e-Governance Division, MeitY.

The opening remarks were delivered in the keynote address by Mr Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov; President & CEO NeGD; MD & CEO Digital India Corporation (DIC), MeitY. Mr Singh outlined the importance of making available open data sets for AI researchers and entrepreneurs. He expressed his satisfaction to see representatives from state governments and the central government in attendance, as they will be the suppliers of such data and the users of any AI-based solutions built using this data, for use-cases pertaining to land record systems, animal health survey or the National Digital Health Mission. However, while he pointed out the scope of innovation, he wasn’t one to overlook the issues of privacy and ethics that accompany open availability of data. He said that these issues could be overcome by ensuring that the central and state governments work as a team to help in improving the delivery of services. It was with the objective to ensure that the officials have necessary skillset and understanding of emerging technologies that the Digital India Dialogues series was conceptualised.

A detailed overview of AI and emerging technologies was provided by Mr Madhu Babu, Data Scientist, Intel Technologies. His comprehensive slide deck helped the participants get acquainted with the concept of AI and its applications in our daily lives. He delved into the specifics of the technology, highlighting differences between AI, ML and DL and those between learning approaches such as supervised, unsupervised and reinforcement. In particular, he demonstrated how the deployment of computer vision-based driver assist systems was helping to curb road accidents in Taiwan. 

A deep-dive into the technical aspects of AI was followed by a short hands-on session of that allowed participants to experience the marvels of AI by tinkering on Quick,Draw! by Google.

To present some use cases, the stage was taken over by Mr Calum Handforth, UN Advisor, Smart Cities and Digitalisation, Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development, UNDP Singapore. He revealed that UNDP was working in 170 countries to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities, in addition to aiming for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. Some use-cases of AI that have already been implemented are: a chatbot to provide digital healthcare to Egyptian people with hearing-impairments; the AI-powered robot called Robin to facilitate peer-to-peer interaction with children in Armenia’s hospitals; and the GeoAI platform to help target brick kiln hotspots of air pollution in India (read more). 

Next, it was time to delve deep into more successful AI deployments in India, facilitated by Mr GT Venkateshwar Rao Commissioner (Electronic Service Delivery) Telangana. Besides being a pioneer in the use of data mining in the IT department, he has been awarded the highest recognition for civil servants in India for his work. He demonstrated the Real Time Digital Authentication of Identity (RTDAI) through smart phone using AI, ML & Big data (read more). The underlying message of his presentation was that AI is a powerful vehicle to automate anytime-anywhere service delivery for citizens, and ensure transparency by reducing human interaction. He took the participants through the process of renewing a driving licence through telagana government’s mobile app: T App Folio.

The Q&A session, moderated by Saloni Singhal of Intel, saw some engaging inputs from the audience. The questions were aptly answered by Mr Rao and Ms Shweta Khurana, Director – Asia Pacific and Japan, Government Partnerships and Initiatives, Intel. 

The concluding remarks were delivered by Dr Alok Goel, Senior General Manager, Capacity Building, National e-Governance Division. He thanked all the speakers and participants and re-emphasised the importance of these capacity building workshops for driving digital adoption in India. He ended with an invitation for the participants to attend the next session of Digital India Dialogues on June 23, 2021.

• Register here to attend the future sessions of the Digital India Dialogues series.