Responsible AI Will Transform India's Progress: Sandip Patel, IBM

IBM India & South Asia MD Sandip Patel on Wednesday stressed on the development of responsible AI as India begins to rapidly embrace the technology for prosperity and economic development.

“The development of responsible AI will play a crucial role in constructing innovative AI systems for Bharat that are characterised by transparency, comprehensibility, reliability and impartiality,” said Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India & South Asia. He was speaking at the BW Businessworld Gen AI Summit in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Patel added that AI is not merely a trend, but rather an essential tool that everyone should become familiar with to effectively utilise it for business operations. The field of AI goes beyond just mimicking human intelligence and problem-solving abilities; it also involves enhancing them. 

Speaking on generative AI (Gen AI), he said the technology refers to advanced deep learning models that are capable of analysing large volumes of data and generating statistically probable outputs. “At a more advanced level, generative models compress a simplified representation of their training data and utilise it to create fresh content that is similar to, but not the same as, the original data.”

“Today, generative AI can acquire knowledge and create new content, encompassing various forms of data such as human language, images, video, software, code, and even molecular structures.” - Sandip Patel, Managing Director, IBM India & South Asia

The emergence of Gen AI from laboratories and experimental stages to practical applications in both consumer and business sectors will have a significant impact on India, highlighted Patel.

Citing a report, he suggested Gen AI has the potential to enhance India's GDP by more than USD 400 billion by 2030, resulting in an approximate 7 per cent growth. The overall cumulative impact could surpass USD 1.2 trillion to USD 1.3 trillion, contributing nearly an additional percentage point to the annual growth rate.

Additionally, Patel shared his positive outlook on the future of AI, envisioning an AI revolution, where a farmer in Haryana could utilise his smartphone in his native language, Haryanvi, to access real-time weather, soil and water data. This information would enable the farmer to create agricultural forecasting models, aiding in crop planning, production, land management, supply chain logistics, and market demand analysis.

Utilising AI For Businesses

Patel outlined five key business principles leveraging AI. He underscored the importance of AI being multimodal, as relying on a single model is not sufficient. Secondly, he stressed the necessity for AI to be hybrid by design, allowing companies to utilise public clouds, private clouds and on-premises solutions. “This is crucial, especially in terms of data security and privacy concerns,” he stated.

Thirdly, Patel stressed the significance of building AI responsibly, as it serves as the foundation of any new technology. This involves aspects such as transparency, explainability and the avoidance of bias. Fourth, he mentioned the importance of data, noting that enterprises with abundant data resources are experiencing greater returns on AI investments. “However, this underscores the critical need for data governance and compliance,” he added. 

Lastly, Patel pointed out that while many enterprises are still in the early stages of their AI journey, it is essential to connect experimentation with tangible business outcomes.