BT India@100: ‘India has not lost the AI race,’ says Amitabh Kant, highlights the country’s biggest advantage

BT India@100: Unlike what many might say or believe, India has not lost the artificial intelligence (AI) race, said former G20 Sherpa and former CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant. He said India is the next big destination, when it comes to AI, and the reason is simple: India’s human resource.

Kant was speaking at the Business Today India@100 in the session titled ‘The Future of Make in India’. He said while various components like chips and lithography machines come from various other countries, India is a major provider of the data.

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“Many people think we have totally lost the AI race, which is totally incorrect to my mind. We must understand how AI works. While the components are coming from various other countries, India will provide 22 per cent of the global data. India has the best technical talent for that. India has very progressive policies and almost $200 billion of data centres are going to be set up here. India has never seen anything like this in any other sector – $200 billion worth of investments in data centres mean that data will be processed here, the talent will be here,” he said.

Kant said global talent is coming from the US to India, AI talent is coming to India to work with startups and GCCs. “We will see India doing many applications in the farmer sector, in learning outcomes, health outcomes, nutrition and must push for AI in manufacturing and really benefit from it.”

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He acknowledged that the ‘world of large language model’ might be over, in reference to how China and the US are the biggest competing orders. “The application world,” he said, “is open to India. And that's what India should really drive for in the future.”

Speaking about the possibility of job losses, Kant said that such concerns and questions arise every time there is a technological evolution. “All these technologies actually created more jobs than the previous technologies and you just need new skills. There is a huge shortage of AI engineers, machine learners, and data scientists. Actually India needs to completely transform its curriculum and skilling for the AI world of tomorrow, so that we bring skilled manpower not only to the country but also to the rest of the world,” he said, adding that 30 per cent of the skilled manpower will be provided by India.

Watch the entire conversation here: