AI diffusion can matter to improve the lives of common man: Nandan Nilekani

Delhi | At the CEOs Forum, Co‑founder of Infosys Nandan Nilekani says, "Congratulations PM Modi on a fantastic Summit. It's really been great. I want to talk about AI diffusion in India with an example. When I met PM Modi on 8th January and talked about applying AI to farmers. He said, why can't we apply it to cows and cattle? Because if the cow is sick, it can't tell you that it is sick. How can you solve this problem? He gave us his vision of applying AI to agriculture and dairy. The same day, the PMO had a meeting along with Krishnan and Abhishek of MeitY, with Amul, and with some of my colleagues. Within three weeks, the application went live... This is the world's largest cooperative with 3.6 million farmers, 2 billion milk transactions per year, and 40 million cattle... This, to me, is an example of the speed of execution of AI diffusion in India. I get the same sense of excitement I got on December 30th, 2016, when the PM launched the BHIM payment application on UPI. And when he launched that application, he started something where today we have 21 billion transactions a month with 500 million users and the world's largest payment system. I feel the same sense that AI is at that point. With his leadership and vision of how AI can be used for the benefit of Indians, common man, farmers, workers, I think it's going to really take off... By the time many of these people come back in a few months, there will be many more applications. India will lead the world on showing how AI diffusion can matter to improve the lives of common man, farmers, students, patients. This is where the AI road, the race to the top is going to happen."