India at the Forefront of Digital Renaissance: IBM India MD Highlights Responsible AI Adoption

India at the cusp of digital renaissance, responsible AI key: IBM India MD

IBM India managing director Sandip Patel on Tuesday announced a "Digital Renaissance" in India, emphasising the country's leadership in AI adoption as he called for a focus on making AI practical, responsible, and embeddable. Patel, managing director (MD) of IBM India & South Asia, was delivering a keynote address at the IBM Think 2024 event here. "Today we are living in a defining moment. We are witnessing India's digital renaissance. I like to call it the 'Naya Daur' of digital Bharat, and each one of you here is propelling this charter, IBM, together with you, is committed to innovating in India, for India and the world. "And we are doing that with our focused strategy on hybrid cloud and AI, which are today two of the most transformational technologies of our time," he said. AI, according to Patel, is not just a buzzword but a crucial growth accelerator for India. Citing a recent survey carried out by IBM, he said 59 per cent of Indian enterprises are deploying AI, the highest rate globally. Yet, he cautioned that moving from experimentation to scaling AI presents significant hurdles. Patel urged companies to consider three fundamental questions when implementing AI: How to make it more practical for real-life use cases, how to ensure its responsible use, and how to embed it seamlessly into daily operations. Scaling responsible AI is essential for achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat, he said, characterised by transparency, explainability, robustness, privacy, and fairness. "Your AI must pass what I call the PRE (Practical, Responsible, Embeddable) test, for which you should ask three fundamental questions. One, how do I make AI more practical, ensuring that you deal with real-life use cases that carry business impact? "Second, how do I make AI more responsible? You've heard about this earlier, and ensuring that to trust AI, especially around automation, as automation and decision-making are deployed to scale and third, how do I make my AI more embeddable, ensuring that AI is infused seamlessly into your day-to-day operations in the applications that are supporting and running your businesses," Patel said.

India Witnessing 'Digital Renaissance', Leading AI Adoption Globally: IBM India MD

Earlier this year, the union cabinet approved the India AI Mission with a total outlay of over INR 10,300 Cr to further grow the country's AI ecosystem Sandip Patel, managing director of IBM India and South Asia, has said that India is on the cusp of a 'digital renaissance' with the country witnessing 'Naya Daur' of digital Bharat. Speaking at the IBM Think 2024 event, Patel said India is leading the charge in adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). He said that 59% of domestic enterprises have already integrated AI into their products -- the highest adoption rate globally, citing an internal survey conducted by IBM, PTI reported. The IBM India head said that AI is not just a buzzword, but a key driver of growth for India, adding that the company remains focused on hybrid cloud and AI, which according to Patel, are "two of the most transformational technologies of our time". The growth curve from experimentation to scaling AI will not be without challenges, the IBM executive said, adding that companies need to be cautious about the technology's implementation. Patel laid out three guiding principles for companies to incorporate AI into their businesses: how to make it more practical for real-life use cases, how to ensure its responsible use and how to embed it seamlessly into daily operations. Scaling responsible AI will be crucial to India's mission of 'Viksit Bharat', characterised by transparency, explainability, robustness, privacy and fairness, he emphasised. The IBM executive's comments come at a time when the AI boom, particularly GenAI, has spawned the rise of new startups in India, which cater to clients across sectors such as consumer support, manufacturing, and fintech. As per Inc42, India is home to more than 70 GenAI startups. These startups raised more than $440 Mn between 2019 and Q3 2023 with backing from over 80 Indian institutional investors. India also minted a unicorn in this space this year -- Krutrim. The rising adoption of AI in the country comes on the back of favourable government policies. To strengthen the AI ecosystem in the country, the union cabinet approved the India AI Mission earlier this year with a total outlay of over INR 10,300 Cr. It envisages creating a scalable AI computing infrastructure by deploying over 10,000 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) through strategic public-private collaborations. The Economic Survey 2024 also emphasised that AI would impact several facets of the Indian economy and put the onus on private companies to leverage AI to augment labour rather than displace jobs.

India at cusp of digital renaissance, responsible AI key: IBM India MD

Scaling responsible AI is essential for achieving the vision of Viksit Bharat, he said, characterised by transparency, explainability, robustness, privacy, and fairness. "Your AI must pass what I call the PRE (Practical, Responsible, Embeddable) test, for which you should ask three fundamental questions. One, how do I make AI more practical, ensuring that you deal with real-life use cases that carry business impact? "Second, how do I make AI more responsible? You've heard about this earlier, and ensuring that to trust AI, especially around automation, as automation and decision-making are deployed to scale and third, how do I make my AI more embeddable, ensuring that AI is infused seamlessly into your day-to-day operations in the applications that are supporting and running your businesses," Patel said.

AI adoption will continue to accelerate in India, says IBM's Sandip Patel

Highlighting the digital and artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in the country, IBM India head Sandip Patel said India is witnessing a digital renaissance as the country leads in the adoption of AI. "AI is clearly going to accelerate. Indian enterprises are outshining their global counterparts in AI deployment and adoption. According to a recent survey by IBM's AI adoption index, 59 per cent of Indian enterprises -- the highest across all markets globally -- are deploying AI in some form," he said during the keynote address at IBM Think 2024, the company's flagship event in Mumbai.