Addressing a session on meritocracy blueprint and architecting India’s global century at the ET NOW Global Business Summit on Friday, Bharti Enterprises vice chairman Rakesh Bharti Mittal said that with different variants of AI emerging every day, there is a need to focus on this area more in the academia to prepare the youth for AI-centric jobs.
“The industry needs to sit across the table with the academia not just for curriculum, but also what we expect from the next generation. This way they are prepared for jobs and entrepreneurship to build successful startups,” said Mittal. “This is not an evolution, but a revolution which is happening.”
He said AI tools will be critical for capacity building of teachers with high quality delivery in classrooms.
Shobana Kamineni, executive chairperson at Apollo Health Co and promoter director at Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, said the company is using an AI layer to train doctors from district colleges so that 80% of decision-making happens in front of them.
“It is a lot easier to scale up new technology now than before. A brilliant surgeon will always have good outcomes in an operating theatre while young doctors with a few days of experience can do equally good surgeries with robots,” she said.
Kamineni said AI will exponentially bring down healthcare costs and create inclusivity with hospitals like hers already using it to read MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and diagnostic tests which lower costs. Further, doctors from cities can remotely operate on patients in smaller towns. “At the turn of the century, China’s population will go down. The Indian workforce has a huge advantage in this regard to work in these countries including Japan. There is a huge opportunity for India’s demographic dividend and using these tools,” she said.
Mittal, however, pointed out two big challenges posed by AI in the short to medium term-on whether AI would impact the thinking capabilities of the next generation and on the ethical use of AI.
“We need to prepare the next generation workforce both for the services and manufacturing sectors. Also, the right kind of R&D and capital is required which will be huge. It will be an opportunity for India,” he said.
Mittal said Indian industry needs to buckle up, build scale and be more ambitious. “We have the second-largest consuming population and exports should be 50% higher in the next few years than what they are today,” he said.
Meritocracy is extremely important to scale up businesses and build capacities, be it in services or manufacturing, he said.
“Talent will only stay when merit is rewarded,” Mittal said.