Introduction

The discussion paper titled National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence #AIForAll was published by NITI Aayog in June 2018.

India, being one of the fastest-growing economies, has a significant stake in the AI revolution that has taken the world by storm. Recognizing AI’s potential to transform economies and the need for India to strategize its approach to be a part of this change, the government has taken the task of crafting a national strategy for AI, which is the focus of this discussion paper. This strategy document shows that India has the strength and characteristics to position itself among leaders on the global AI map. It also focuses on how India can leverage transformative technologies to ensure social and inclusive growth in line with the development philosophy of the government.

It is true that AI has the potential to provide large incremental value to a wide range of sectors and is rightly termed as a transformative technology. Given its disruptive nature, it is important that the government should look into its large-scale adoption strategies so as to strike a balance between narrow definitions of financial impact and the greater good. Given this background, NITI Aayog has decided to focus on five sectors that are envisioned to benefit the most from AI in solving societal needs: a) healthcare, b) agriculture, c) education, d) smart cities and infrastructure and e) smart mobility and transportation. 

However, to reap the benefits of deploying AI at scale, the paper also identifies the barriers that need to be addressed in order to achieve the goals. The barriers that have been analyzed are a) lack of broad-based expertise in research and application of AI, b) absence of enabling data ecosystems, c) high resource cost and low awareness for adoption of AI, d) privacy and security and e) absence of collaborative approach to adoption and application of AI. In this context, the paper rightly points out that AI research in India is still in its infancy and requires large scale concerted and collaborative interventions to scale it up. The paper proposes a two-tiered structure to address India’s AI research aspirations: a) CORE (Centre of Research Excellence) which will focus on developing a better understanding of existing core research and pushing technology frontiers through the creation of new knowledge and b) ICTAI (International Centers of Transformational AI) which will have a mandate of developing and deploying application-based research. The paper also highlights the fact that adoption of AI across the value chain viz. start-ups, private sector, PSUs and government entities, will truly unlock the potential by creating a virtuous cycle of supply and demand. Hence, to address all the barriers to its deployment, a marketplace model should be adopted with a focus on data collection and aggregation, data annotation and deployable models.

The report also states the fact that as AI-based solutions will permeate the way we live and do business, the question of ethics, privacy and security will emerge. To address these questions, it is advisable to set up a consortium of Ethics Councils at each CORE that will adhere to standard AI practices. The paper also emphasizes the fact that appropriate handling of data, ensuring privacy and security is of prime importance and suggests establishing data protection frameworks and sectorial regulatory frameworks, and promotion of adoption of international standards. 

Relevance of the report

The paper is a must-read for those who want to have an end-to-end view of AI adoption in India and the challenges and recommendations associated with it. The paper successfully identifies priority areas for India’s efforts in AI and categorizes three distinct components in this regard. They are a) opportunity which assesses the economic impact of AI for India, b) AI for the greater good which focuses on social development and inclusive growth and c) AI garage for 40% of the world which reiterates the fact that India can be the perfect “playground” for enterprises and institutions globally to develop scalable solutions which can be easily implemented in the rest of the developing and emerging economies. Through this report, the reader gets an in-depth view of the focus areas of AI intervention in various sectors and how the government has successfully addressed some of the sectoral challenges. It also lays down recommendations such as private and public participation in advanced research, skilling of the workforce for AI, accelerating adoption and ethics and privacy principles while building a responsible AI. 

Key takeaways

• Even though AI has the potential to provide incremental value to all sectors, till date, its adoption has been primarily driven from a commercial perspective. Nevertheless, the government has taken large scale initiatives to focus on five main sectors where AI can be used to maximize societal benefits.
• There are multitudes of challenges that India needs to overcome to realize the full potential of AI. However, the good part is that, if addressed through concerted, collaborative efforts by relevant stakeholders, with the government playing a leading role, it could lead to a fundamental building block that will form the core of India’s AI leadership. 
• Given that India’s capabilities in AI research are limited, early adoption of AI through start-up community is essential. Along with this, India needs to ensure adequate privacy, security and IP related concerns and balance ethical considerations with the need for innovation.
• Efforts should be made to establish a centre of excellence for AI in top educational institutes to enable broad-based development of AI research capabilities across India. In addition to this, the changing nature of the global service sector where automation is occupying a big part would essentially mean up-skilling or re-skilling the workforce to prepare for the future. This also requires standardization of informal training institutes. 
• To achieve the goal of #AIforAll, the government should act as a facilitator and an active promoter while ensuring that it does not crowd out the private sector.