New Delhi, February 16 India can clearly lead in making AI more accessible to the Global South, having developed language models that can be incredibly powerful, said BCG India Managing Director & Partner, Sidharth Madaan, on Monday.
However, India faces the risk of not keeping pace with new technologies and converting its demographic advantage into a productivity advantage, for which AI can play a key role in training its existing workforce and those entering the workforce, Madaan told
"India has done very well with language models. Whether it's 'Bhashini' or 'Sarvam', many of them are open source. By leveraging the technology we've developed and the knowledge available in different markets, these language models can be incredibly powerful," he said when asked about the potential for AI adoption in training and then taking it to countries in the Global South from India.
He further added, "Imagine other countries in the Global South – Africa, Latin America, 50-60 countries – each with their own local nuances. The technology has reached a level where India has been able to solve for Indian languages, which can easily be taken to Africa to solve for 50-plus African countries. India can clearly lead in making AI more accessible to the Global South."
When asked about the significance of AI in skilling in the country, Madaan said that India currently has one of the youngest populations in the world, with an average age of 29 years, while the rest of the world has an average age of late 30s or 40s.
"This demographic advantage will not materialize into a productivity advantage unless we train them on the new technologies. In fact, we face the risk of not keeping pace, and therefore, skilling is paramount," he noted.
The existing workforce needs to be trained on the new technologies, while the younger population entering the workforce also needs to be prepared to use technology "where we have the advantage," Madaan asserted.
On the gap between skilling and AI adoption, he said it is "quite large, and we need to catch up on digital adoption. We need to focus on STEM education, basic math and science, and being able to use AI effectively."
Madaan added, "The beauty of AI is that it makes the process easier. You can now communicate in different languages and in different voice formats, instead of just looking at data and reading text."
He said that technology is making it easier to reach the last mile, adding "but there is still a lot of skilling to be done to be able to take advantage of the technology that we have available."
