Google Organises Workshop On AI and Machine Learning In India

In an attempt to make India technologically advanced, technology giant Google organised a workshop on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in Bengaluru today.

Interestingly, several famous personalities, such as computer scientist and software engineer Jeff Dean and Vice President of Engineering at Google Prabhakar Raghavan, kicked off the workshop by sharing the organisation’s future plans in terms of AI and ML.

Not only that, they also spoke about the ease of doing business with the help of AI and machine learning.

This event, organised by Google, also saw the participation of several faculties and researchers from the IITs and industry practitioners from both startups and bigger companies including Amazon, Flipkart, LinkedIn, Myntra, Microsoft and Ola. These companies also discussed their ongoing projects in many areas of AI such as Deep Learning, Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing, ML Systems, and Generative Models.

At the event, Google also awarded grants to five faculty members in India to support their academic research on AI. In its blog, the company claimed that the funds disbursed to the winners this time are much higher than it was in 2012.

Scope Of AI And Machine Learning In India

If one looks closely, all the major sectors in India – such as healthcare, media, automobile – are changing due to rapid technological advancement. According to Tracxn Technologies, there are more than 200 AI based startups in India.

Here is a list of Indian startups who are carrying out projects related to AI and Machine Learning.

•   Niki.ai is an AI-powered shopping assistant. Through its chatbot SDK, the organisation leverages the technology of natural language processing and machine learning to converse with the customers over a chat interface, to shop for products and services. Additionally, it supports over 20 categories including entertainment, travel, daily utilities, with partners such as BookMyShow, Redbus, OYO, Ola, Uber, JustRechargeIt, HDFC, among others.
•   Uncanny Vision delivers AI-based surveillance solutions. Using deep Learning-enabled vision algorithms that have been optimised to run on Edge servers, the company provides cost-effective and scalable security for next generation safe cities and smart industries. It also enables real-time actionable surveillance and analytics for high-value customers in retail and banking.
•   Founded by Avneesh Agrawal, Netradyne has developed a powerful camera which can analyse driving patterns and helps to determine the cause of an accident. The soap bar sized device is attached to a vehicle’s rear-view mirror and rests on the inside of the windscreen, pointing towards the road.
•   Gurgaon based Staqu is an AI focused research firm working in automated image understanding technology. Staqu enables automation of some of the crucial tasks for ecommerce companies which include image search, tag generation, real-time recommendation.

As reported earlier by Inc42, the government has allocated a massive amount of $480 Mn for Digital India initiatives focused on modern technologies including artificial intelligence among others.

During the Union Budget 2018 session, Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister, announced that the government will be investing extensively in research, training and skill development in robotics, Artificial Intelligence, digital manufacturing, Big Data intelligence and Quantum communications, among others.

It is expected that with the government’s push, AI will revolutionise everything from manufacturing to innovation and labour market productivity in India. Also, it will pave the path for India to be in the list of the most advanced economies.

Additionally, with such steps, India can be two steps ahead of the two superpowers US and China, especially when it comes to acknowledging the strategic importance of emerging technologies around the world.