How can India strategize for AI Supremacy?

5 min readNov 7, 2020

India, being the fastest growing economy with the second largest population in the world, has a significant stake in the AI revolution. There has been tremendous activity concerning AI policy in different countries over the past couple of years. Governments in the USA, UK, France, Japan, and China have released their policy and strategies relating to AI. Recognizing AI’s potential to transform economies and the need for India to strategize its approach, with a view to research and development in new and emerging technologies. In pursuance of the above, under National Program on AI, NITI Aayog has adopted a three-pronged approach — undertaking exploratory proof-of-concept AI projects in various areas, crafting a national strategy for building a vibrant AI ecosystem in India, and collaborating with various experts and stakeholders. NITI Aayog has partnered with several leading AI technology players to implement AI projects in critical areas such as agriculture and health. While evolving the strategy for AI, the underlying thrust was to identify applications with maximum social impact, a willingness to learn from the best of the world when it comes to the recent technology advancements in AI, and leveraging approaches that democratize access to and further development of AI.

Approach to strategy formulation

Application perspective

The approach is to identify sectors that may have the potential of greatest externalities while adopting AI solutions and hence require the government to play a leading role in developing the implementation roadmap for AI. For example, the agriculture sector in India, which forms the bedrock of India’s economy, needs multi-layered technology infusion and coordination amongst several stakeholders. Efforts from the private sector may neither be financially optimal nor efficient on a standalone basis and hence sustained government intervention to tackle the existing challenges and constraints is needed. Hence, India’s approach to implementation of AI has to be guided by the optimization of social goods, rather than the maximization of topline growth.

Technology Perspective

The strategy is to maximize the late-movers’ advantage. Acknowledging that India is some distance away from consistently delivering homegrown pioneering technology solutions in AI, adapting and innovating the technology for India’s unique needs and opportunities would
help it in leapfrogging, while simultaneously building the foundational R&D capability aimed at ensuring competitiveness in the long run. An integral part of India’s strategy for AI involves tackling common and complex global challenges that can be solved through technology intervention, and India’s scale and opportunity landscape provide the ideal test-bed to ensure sustainable and scalable solutions.

Strategies for AI Supremacy

Technology disruptions like AI are a once-in-a-generation phenomenon, and hence large-scale adoption strategies, especially national strategies, need to strike a balance between narrow definitions of financial impact and the greater good.

Envisioned sectors that can benefit the most from AI in solving societal needs:

Healthcare: increased access and affordability of quality healthcare
Agriculture: enhanced farmers’ income, increased farm productivity, and reduction of wastage
Education: improved access and quality of education
Smart Cities and Infrastructure: efficient and connectivity for the burgeoning urban population
Smart Mobility and Transportation: smarter and safer modes of transportation and better traffic and congestion problems.

Despite indications of recent positive efforts in this aspect of technology, AI research in India is still in its infancy and requires large-scale concerted and collaborative interventions.

Propositions to address India’s AI research aspirations:

Centre of Research Excellence (CORE) focused on developing a better understanding of existing core research and pushing technology frontiers through the creation of new knowledge
International Centers of Transformational AI (ICTAI) with a mandate of developing and deploying application-based research. Private sector collaboration is envisioned to be a key aspect of ICTAIs

The research capabilities are proposed to be complemented by an umbrella organization responsible for providing direction to research efforts through analysis of socio-economic indicators, studying global advancements, and encouraging international collaboration. Pursuing “moonshot research projects” through specialized teams, development of a dedicated supranational agency like “ CERN for AI”.

Barriers of deploying AI at scale:

Lack of broad-based expertise in research and application of AI
Absence of enabling data ecosystems to access intelligent data
High resource cost and low awareness for adoption of AI
Privacy and security, including a lack of formal regulations around anonymization of data
Absence of a collaborative approach to adoption and application of AI

Concept of National AI Marketplace:

Adoption of AI across the value chain viz. startups, private sector, PSUs, and government entities, will truly unlock the potential by creating a virtuous cycle of supply and demand. The barriers to AI development and deployment can effectively be addressed by adopting the marketplace model — one that enables market discovery of not only the price but also of different approaches that are best suited to achieve the desired results. A three-pronged common platform, a formal marketplace could be created focusing on data collection and aggregation, data annotation, and deployable models.

Strengthening the Intellectual Property (IP) regime:

In order for India to ride the AI innovation wave, a robust intellectual property framework is required. Despite a number of government initiatives in strengthening the IP regime, challenges remain, especially in respect of applying stringent and narrowly focused patent laws to AI applications given the unique nature of AI solution development. The importance of data to the development of useful models is one such example. To tackle these issues, the establishment of IP facilitation centers to help bridge the gap between
practitioners and AI developers, and adequate training of IP granting authorities, judiciary, and tribunals are suggested.

The AI strategy is aimed at primarily guiding an inevitable wave of change for quicker and better impact. The AI ecosystem is rapidly evolving and taking societies into uncharted territory. For now, we can begin to ask some of the big questions that each society must answer for itself:

Are we ready to manage data ethically?

How do we bridge the digital divide?

Which innovations are worthy of public funds and partnerships?

Bringing these questions into the open is the most important step in ensuring that AI advances create a better society. In order to establish a leadership role, it is important for India to take the plunge and start this revolution by rolling out innovative programs that would ensure for India its rightful place in this transformational era.

How can India strategize for AI Supremacy?

Approach to strategy formulation

Strategies for AI Supremacy

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