India needs skilled manpower to become infrastructure builder for AI: IIM-A Director

India targets to unveil home-grown artificial intelligence (AI) models by February next year. Startups and academia have been playing a critical role driving innovation in this sector. The Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad has come out with dedicated programmes to bridge skill gaps in the areas of AI and business analytics. In an interview with Gyanendra Keshri of DH, IIM Ahmedabad Director Bharat Bhasker talks about the development of India’s indigenous AI models and its impact on the country’s economy, especially manufacturing. Edited excerpts:

Q)The US and China have taken the lead in the development of AI models. India seems to have lagged behind. India’s home-grown AI model is targeted to be unveiled by February. How do you see this development?

A) India has been a physical and IT infrastructure provider for the world. We have built physical infrastructure for West Asia. We have built the whole IT infrastructure and IT services for the West. We need to re-train our human resources to become the infrastructure builder for AI. Complete reorientation is required to become a leader in AI as well. We are talking about Viksit Bharat (developed India). That means we can’t be just building for others. We need to build within the country the whole infrastructure. Data centres, cloud services, conglomerate building, all have to happen here, which will be driving the AI technology. The government is trying to set up 10,000 GPU data centres. How do we take advantage of that? We need human resources, which will be able to build these applications and then take those applications globally. That is the big challenge in front of us.

Q) How do you see its impact on the economy?

A) In terms of human resource, there will be job shrinkage of the traditional jobs. However, a newer kind of manpower will be required. China has been dominating manufacturing. AI is going to create some good opportunities for India in the manufacturing sector. Today, because of technology, boundaries are getting blurred. You see many startups are working simultaneously from California and Bengaluru. They are using the common infrastructure. If we develop the right AI infrastructure, we will have several advantages over other countries.

Q) What kind of new jobs will be created in manufacturing?

A) The AI is going to bring disruptions. The number of workforce will not be in the same proportionate as it used to be in the earlier time. In order to maintain the quality and efficiency, industries have to opt for automation. So, you can’t say I have cheaper labour so I will do manufacturing. Skilled, competitive labour will be required. There will be customised manufacturing. For that machines will be required to be trained. You will be required to train and adjust the assembly line for flexibility. This will require different kinds of human resources. Skill levels are going to change and that is why you need to prepare more and more workforce with the AI capability or AI skill levels where they are able to take advantage.

Q) What needs to be done to bridge the skill gap in the sector?

A) With more and more companies and organisations opting for AI, the demand for skilled manpower in the sector is going to rise. This will put further pressure on the skill gap. The IIM Ahmedabad has launched a new programme in AI and business analytics. Other IIMs and academic institutions are also coming up with their own courses. Once the framework is set, private institutions will also follow as it happened in the case of computers and IT. India has the manpower and brainpower — we just need direction and structure to develop the right skills.

Q) Why do we see very few successful innovations coming from academic campuses in India?

This used to be the case. But things are changing. We should expect a huge amount of innovations coming from campuses, especially in AI. We have an IIM venture located here at IIM Ahmedabad campus. It is doing wonderful work in the AI field. The IIM venture has come out with an application which uses AI to optimise power consumption in ATMs. We are doing it with SBI on an experimental basis. It can be scaled up if SBI decides to do that.