The conversations around AI are increasingly rising, and that’s certainly a positive sign. For the longest time, both the US and China have been synonymous with global AI leadership, but there’s a new addition to this list: India. Interestingly, new analysis by code-sharing platform GitHub reveals that India trumps the US, when it comes to code writing capabilities. This brings forth a dire need to upskill the country’s IT talent pool, something that was initiated much earlier by some of the top IT service companies in India. But is that enough? Because there are many more industries that could benefit from this recent evolution. 

What is it that makes any country an AI superpower? It’s a no-brainer — the research, both in terms of its volume and quality. There was no other contender in this department other than the US, but both China and the EU have given the country a tough fight, especially in recent times. But the surprise entry is that of India, and it is already making waves. 

Leading the AI race in public AI-related code repositories

Analysis by GitHub reveals that it was in 2019 that India overtook the US, with regard to AI-related code. Statistics reveal that in 2020, it accounted for 30% of all commits — two times the US figure. This highlights the fact that India is one of the top contenders in the race, which has almost always been dominated by players like the US and China. 

But this is hardly surprising because India’s talent pool is diverse and can meet the requirements of the AI era. In fact, even before AI became so widespread, the country’s IT service giants have always had their guards up, ensuring that people in the industry are well-trained to take on all kinds of challenges. 

Today, winds of change have begun to blow, and AI has become an integral part of India’s academic curriculum across schools, universities and engineering schools. 

Although India has moved up the ladder in many areas, cutting-edge AI research is still a pain point. That’s because there is a relative lack of PhD students, as well as supercomputers that are integral for such research. But the country is spot on when it comes to turning basic AI research into technology solutions. 

The very fact that four US corporate AI giants like Facebook, Google, Microsoft and IBM have five AI labs based in India (as per CSET analysis) is proof enough. 

Who will receive the benefit from India’s vast AI talent pool?

As mentioned earlier, this pool was earlier largely leveraged by some of India’s top IT services companies, such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro. Although the situation doesn’t look altogether different today, the talent has also spread its wings in Western services firms like Accenture, IBM, KPMG, or EY. In a nutshell, India is a global talent pool. 

Moreover, with the pandemic revolutionising the world of work, India’s younger population have realised that there’s a lot more they can do, other than outsourcing. In some leading IT services companies, the attrition rate has reached the range of 30-50% annually, instead of the standard 10-15%. There is also more receptivity towards the gig economy, with many being a part of platforms like TopCoder. 

Last but not the least, AI-based startups in India have received an impetus, more so after the pandemic. If figures are to go by, India's start-ups attracted USD 28 billion in venture capital last year, according to data from Crunchbase, fourth behind the US, China and the UK. With these startups being in the spotlight, there is greater opportunity today for those who want to build a career in this field.