 "Nandan Nilekani")
India wants artificial intelligence (AI) applications that benefit all citizens and it is not competing to develop large language models (LLMs), said Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and chairman of Infosys, referring to the core software of the technology.
"The Indian path in AI is different. We are not in the arms race to build the next LLM, let people with capital, let people who want to pedal ships do all that stuff... We are here to make a difference and our aim is to give this technology in the hands of people," he said.
Nilekani told the People+AI event in Bengaluru on Tuesday technology should address the challenges faced by India's vast population. "Experimentation at scale by startups, by government, and private sector will help us go up in terms of adoption and application."
Nilekani dismissed doomsday predictions about AI’s impact as protectionist rhetoric. He emphasised the importance of openness and collaboration in AI development, rejecting the notion of monopolising AI advancements for personal gain.
“A lot of these doomsday prophets are essentially protectionists, who don't want to allow other people to build models, they want to make all the money for themselves. So that's not the way it's going to be here, we will open it up,” said Nilekani, who was the founding chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the organisation that manages the national digital identification system, Aadhaar.
Nilekani urged India to utilise current technological capabilities rather than waiting for hypothetical advancements. He criticised the fixation on billion-dollar models, advocating instead for practical solutions to empower India's billion-strong populace.
People+AI, an initiative by the EkStep Foundation, unveiled its Open Cloud Compute (OCC) project. OCC aims to establish an open network for AI infrastructure, catering to the increasing demand for computational resources.
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The event marked the rollout of several initiatives by people+ai that are focused on discovering, demonstrating, and disseminating population-scale AI use cases for India. In line with its commitment to open and accessible solutions, the Open Cloud Compute (OCC) initiative was also launched on the same day.
The event featured a display of AI-powered community initiatives by prominent figures including Nikhil Kumar (Setu), Jagadish Babu (EkStep Foundation), Charu Chadha (Policy Working Group, people+ai), Sunayana Sitaram (Microsoft Research), and Rahul Deora (Fynd). These initiatives highlighted the diverse applications of AI in tackling real-world problems.
Leaders from the AI-powered community announced solutions that align with the vision of ‘Making an Adbhut India’. Kumar, co-founder of Indian fintech company Setu, unveiled Sesame, India’s first LLM designed for the banking, financial services and insurance sector. Developed in collaboration with the indigenous AI research firm Sarvam AI, the breakthrough marks a “ChatGPT moment” in financial services, said Kumar.
