*The retail industry has been one of worst-hit industries by the global pandemic.

*India is going to take a leadership role in AI for the world.

*There has never been a better time for AI ecosystem players and especially startups offering AI solutions.

The McKinsey Global Institute has recently studied economic statistics from the United Nations, the World Bank, and the World Economic Forum and estimated that by 2030, AI can add 16 percent—or around $13 trillion—to the global economy and AI will boost global GDP by $15.7 billion. Since 2000, AI venture investments have risen six times and McKinsey also estimates that by 2030, at least 70 percent of businesses are likely to have implemented at least one type of AI technology.

In India comparatively, Artificial Intelligence is a growing industry sector, as a report by Computer Vision Market reveals and stands at $6.4 billion as of 2030.  36.2 percent of this demand is coming from MNCs, GICs, and Captive firms with a market valuation of $2.3 billion. The future will see a vast number of other industries such as healthcare, high-tech manufacturing, and semiconductor companies adopting AI making it one of the most attractive and fastest-growing technology sectors over the next decade.

The retail industry has been one of worst-hit industries by the global pandemic and after an initial knee-jerk pause during the lockdowns, we see a sudden spike in retail brands (across categories of products) globally wanting to adopt and embrace digital transformation initiatives. The age-old model of customer service via call-centre’s has been disrupted permanently by Covid-19 and moving to AI solutions that can help retail businesses manage both exponential rise in call volumes while maintaining very high service level quality is the new emerging opportunity. It is, therefore, not a surprise that the conversational AI market alone is expected to grow at 32 percent CAGR to $9.4 billion by 2024 according to market research company markets & markets.

The Indian Government is playing a significant role as well and recently joined a Multinational Alliance on Artificial Intelligence that includes big nations such as the United States, the UK and Australia. Also, India has launched a Nationwide Artificial Intelligence Plan to bring the best of ideas and expertise from all fields and industries together making it one of the most happening and promising technology ecosystems to watch out for.

The National policymakers substantially expanded public AI funding through promises, such as increased R&D spending, the creation of industrial and construction funds by startups, network and technology investments, and public procurement relevant to AI. The government is also creating and fostering AI through numerous variations of public-private academies; the creation of technology parks and the connection between big companies and startups.

NASSCOM estimates that by 2022, 46% of the Indian workforce will be employed in completely new industries, which do not exist, or jobs that have drastically changed skill sets. NITI Ayog reports estimate that in India demand for AI and computer learners increased 60 percent in 2018. An Independent study has also stated that in 2020 India faced a demand-supply gap of 2,00,000d data analytics experts.

While global businesses have been at the forefront of adopting emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and IoT, Indian businesses have been traditionally late technology adopters. Owing to an in general risk-averse mindset culturally, only once a technology has been proven and tested at scale, Indian businesses are willing to adopt it and we see a similar trend even in AI and AI-based solutions.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have reversed this trend completely and we see Indian businesses realize that adopting emerging technologies in today’s world is no longer an option that can be delayed any further. In many cases it can be the deciding factor between thriving, surviving, or perishing for the business. For example, at AskSid, where we offer a digital shopping assistant that help retail brands sell more, we have seen a drastic increase in demand in the last 6 months leading to a 3X-5X jump in our opportunity pipeline.

This increased adoption within businesses is being driven by the rapid usage and adoption of AI by consumers in their daily life. Alexa, Siri, Google as voice assistants are house-hold names today both in India and outside and the expectations to get served instantly in a personalized manner is considered totally normal by today’s consumers. Any business which fails to deliver on this high standard of customer experience which consumers demand carries the serious threat of becoming redundant very fast and therefore embracing digital transformation using emerging technologies such as AI is no longer an option for Indian businesses.To conclude the overall scenario, one thing that is evident in the global vs. Indian AI debate is that India is now no longer a laggard,

• India is going to take a leadership role in AI for the world. Indeed, through zealous technological advances and consistent R&D India can be the next artificial intelligence superpower. Indian firms and AI entrepreneurs must begin to invest more in research and to grow AI products and solutions from India.
• There has never been a better time for AI ecosystem players and especially startups offering AI solutions. There lie a huge market and humongous opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to tap into.

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Artificial intelligence vs human intelligence is a long on-going debate. There are supporters and strong believers in the power of one form over the other and one replacing the other.

Intelligence is the mental ability that is used in reasoning, problem-solving and learning and integrates the core cognitive functions of perception, memory, attention, focus, planning and language. Years of research has proven over and again that intelligence is measurable through standardized, scientific tests and can be altered through customized means and methods.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has evolved greatly over the years and is going see more revolutionary changes in its design, functions and importance over the years. Currently, AI is being used in several industries and business functions like cyber security, banking, marketing, sales, transportation, customer engagement, etc. mainly for the purposes of automation of regular and mundane tasks. Certain food delivery businesses, navigation using Google Maps, the first level of customer engagement, lead generation and technical support on the website and online platforms, digital music selection on Spotify, web application security, factory assembly lines, etc. are already leveraging AI to a great extent.

Unlike machines and computers, AI uses contextual awareness which gives it the ability to sense, analyze and respond to a given, current context or situation to produce maximum success using past data stored in its memory and insights from a range of fields and activities. Machine learning and natural language processing are further enabling organizations to leverage AI to do more sophisticated and customized tasks too.

Uber is conducting pilot studies and tests for self-driving cars. There is a lot more ongoing research to leverage AI with Machine Learning and natural language processing to make processes more efficient and cost-effective.

Will AI replace human intelligence?

With the magnitude of investment flowing into R&D of AI solutions in various fields, it is widely feared that AI will take over the jobs leaving several millions of individuals unemployed and at some point, even take over the world.

It is justified to some extent to have such fears since there is a number of jobs lost especially those involving mundane and regular tasks and judgements. But overall, AI cannot replace human intelligence. Why?

Three reasons. One, human intelligence is a product of millions of years of learning and fine-tuning. Our cognitive skill sand abilities are evolved to a point that we can multi-task, respond to new circumstances and changes effectively, adapting to a dynamic environment, handle abstract ideas and complicated tasks, process even vague commands, be flexible and so on.

Two, human intelligence includes interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence which enables humans to process emotions, make observations, respond to sensitive information, make judgments, creatively solve problems, etc. Both of these are human prerogatives and cannot be mimicked by machines.

Three, AI being a replicated version of the human intelligence, will require several times more R&D, instructions and investments to be able to completely mimic the human intelligence or become superior to it. At best, AI can be a powerful tool for humans to use to improve the way the world functions.

It is an undeniable fact that AI is a powerful tool. It is also true that the attention level and focus of human beings have shrunk greatly owing to the availability of excess information around us.

The voluminous amounts of data generated cannot be fully understood and analyzed by human intelligence and when added with the shrinking attention spans and plateauing cognitive growth in the past few years, accentuates the problem further. With the help of AI and Machine Learning, we can make sense of these data and unearth hidden patterns, trends and correlations.

By leveraging the insights so produced, we can improve our personal and professional lives and engage in better decision-making, improve the overall efficiency of our work and so on. For instance, using AI in education technology, we can create superior learners with higher order skills by making them better understand their strengths and weaknesses, helping them devise methods to overcome their mistakes and effectively understand a given subject.

Another example is marketing where AI and ML are widely used by marketers to automate mundane, routine tasks while leveraging the insights to create impactful marketing strategies, improving customer engagement and focusing on increasing their ROI. The use of AI helps them to declutter the data available to them to focus on what is essential.

The emergence of Intelligence Amplification

The idea and understanding that AI and Machine Learning need not replace humans but aid them and help augment human intelligence has led to the emergence of intelligence amplification (IA) and IA technologies. A great example of IA technology is IBM’s Watson supercomputer which provides information to accentuate human intelligence, understands and analyzes their decisions based on the information and amplifies its own intelligence.

It has proven to be very useful to doctors in making diagnosis and providing treatment because doctors need not rely only on their finite knowledge; Watson sifts through the abundance of newly published and existing medical-diagnostic materials to present the doctors with new pieces of knowledge and information that will help them in making data-driven decisions that they may not have thought of otherwise.

Intelligence amplification can be started as early as primary and secondary stages of cognitive development of children using education technology to enable them to unleash their full potential and bring out the genius in them.

Through scientific assessments, we can delve deep into the human brain and understand its efficiency. Based on this understanding, personalized learning plans can be drafted, and customized education can be provided to children to develop their cognitive skills and augment their intelligence.

With more research and development in intelligence amplification, we improve the brain efficiency manifold and significantly alter the way the world functions.

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