Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella addresses students at the Young Innovators Summit in Delhi

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella today met a gathering of students and educators at the Young Innovators Summit organized by Microsoft India at the India Habitat Centre, Delhi. The Young Innovators Summit brought together over 250 students and educators in Delhi NCR.  In conversation with Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, Satya Nadella spoke about the role that technology will play in transforming the education ecosystem over the next decade, outlining the opportunity students have today to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems with technology.

Speaking at the summit, Satya, said, "We need to reformulate the relationship between technology and learning. It is very interesting to witness the way young innovators think today. What excited and inspired me from my meetings with students was the quality of their ideas, the scope of their ambition, deep passion and deep empathy turning into action. This is truly transformative, and is how societies and economies move forward."

Watch Satya Nadella in conversation with Anant Maheshwari at the Young Innovators Summit

The Young Innovators Summit also showcased examples of technology-powered innovation from the student community in India. Three young innovators talked about how they are using technology to connect the world and solve some of the biggest social, environmental and health challenges of our times.

• USING AI TO SAVE LIVES: PRATIK MOHAPATRA

OrganSecure, built by Pratik Mohapatra, uses a sophisticated set of machine learning algorithms to quickly match organ donors with recipients, providing real-time updates to people in need of a transplant. His idea of an AI-powered app that aims to match organ donors with people in need of an organ transplant in real-time, was one of the three winning ideas at the 2019 Microsoft AI for Good Idea Challenge.

A coding enthusiast, Mohapatra has been developing apps since he was 14 years old and has a keen interest in applying technology to life sciences. In his words, “While watching a web series that revolves around organ donation, I realized the pain and emotional trauma people go through when waiting for a transplant. I started digging deeper about the problem and spoke to doctors at leading hospitals in Bengaluru to comprehend the magnitude of the issue,” he shares.

Read more here.

• FIGHTING AIR POLLUTION WITH AI: ISHLOK VASHISTHA

Taking from their experience of living in the vicinity of New Delhi, which has one of the world’s worst air quality, Ishlok and four of his friends decided to use technology to tackle the problem. The team, comprising Ishlok Vashistha, Aakash Bhadana, Vasu Kaushik, Dipesh Narwat, and Bharat Sundal from Manav Rachna Institute of Research & Studies in Faridabad came up with Caeli, a smart anti-pollution face mask and portable nebulizer to help those with breathing ailments like asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.

The mask and nebulizer are connected to a smartphone application via Bluetooth. The Caeli mask features an air filtration system and an Air Quality Index (AQI) sensor that constantly monitors the quality of air, while the Caeli app controls the schedule of the drug dispensed from the nebulizer depending on the user’s prescription and pollution levels. Their idea won the team the runners-up position at the Microsoft 2019 Imagine Cup World Championship.

Read more here.

• TRANSFORMING LEARNING THROUGH MINECRAFT: NAMYA JOSHI

Namya Joshi, a seventh-grade student at Sat Paul Mittal School, Ludhiana, Punjab, has become an icon and inspiration for many. Namya, a 13-year-old, loves training teachers and has been a crusader for making learning fun through technology. She has been helping teachers at her school convert their class lessons into interactive Minecraft sessions. Namya has conducted multiple Skype sessions across countries like Vietnam, India, Hungary, Finland, for both teachers and students to initiate them into the use of Minecraft in classes.

“Minecraft is a great platform”, she says. “If a child does not like reading books, for example, you can make them in Minecraft and get the child interested.”

Namya has been conferred with the REX Karamveer Global Fellowship and Karamveer Chakra Award, and is a winner of the ‘UNESCO Clubs 2018-2019 Worldwide Youth Multimedia Competition’ for creating a virtual library of books on Minecraft. Read more here.

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How AI and Machine learning helps in up skilling to better career opportunities

There are at least two clear trends that show a demand-supply mismatch in tech jobs in cutting-edge IT fields such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. One is via industry predictions that estimate growth in the AI market from USD 21.46 billion to USD 190.61 billion between 2018 and 2025. Year on year growth is projected to be an impressive 36.62% during the same period. The second trend is more subtle. Big Indian IT firms in the US are reportedly ‘hoarding’ employees in these 2 fields as they foresee a shortage in skilled experts. They also fear a corresponding rise in the cost of hiring employees for tech contracts they have bagged for the future.

How are AI & Machine Learning being used in Industry?

Unlike the exaggerated robots of the 2001 Steven Spielberg movie of the same name, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in reality is tamer. AI is understood to mean ways of making computers, computer-controlled robots or program think intelligently mimicking the manner in which humans think intelligently. A computer program with AI can use can solve generic problems it is programmed to instead of just specific ones. They can accommodate new modifications to input without breaking structure. Traditional programmers would have to sort, sift and debug thousands of lines of code to make modifications.

AI finds applications in strategy games such as chess or poker where advance moves are determined by heuristic logic, natural language processing, virtual assistant technology, image and speech recognition and automated robotics. General AI systems which can solve any given problem are rare. Insurance and banking organizations regularly use AI to monitor fraud. Marketers use AI every time you shop online to gather your browsing habits and predict what you are most likely to buy. They will then advertise those products through pop-ups and logos. Self-driving cars, auto-pilot modes and smart homes using sensors all rely on AI and affect daily lives of consumers.

There is also a difference between AI and Machine Learning (ML) although a number of articles on the web club them together or use them interchangeably. “ML is the study of computer algorithms that improve automatically through experience” according to Tom Mitchell of Carnegie Mellon University. It is simply one of the ways we use to achieve AI or something closer.

How can you acquire AI & ML skills?

By some estimates, AI will create nearly 2.3 million jobs by next year. It might also make 1.7 million jobs obsolete but those would need to be replaced by 0.5 million new jobs. Nearly all forms of enterprise software, factory automation, transport and other industries are increasingly using AI-based interfaces in their daily operation. In fact, by 2030, AI may end up offering USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy.

Mathematical and programming skills are central to acquiring competency in this field. However, for seasoned tech professionals, it is also quite important to develop excellent communication skills. An understanding of how business works and the common processes used in day-to-day operations will help you better utilize your core competencies to improve organizational workflows.

Core Competencies required in AI & ML

For complete beginners, programming using C++ is a mandatory requirement. Also necessary is an understanding of how algorithms are created and executed.

Typically, knowledge and expertise in Bayesian networks, neural networks, cognitive science theory, engineering, physics, robotics, undergraduate algebra, calculus, statistics and probability are very essential to hone your talents in ML.

Graduates in Computer Science need only supplement their knowledge of math and computing with a specialized course in AI & ML.

India Best Placed to exploit AI opportunities

Analysis of professional networking site Linkedin.com has shown that India is the third best-placed economy after the US and China to crack AI jobs and careers with high penetration of AI awareness. AI is a big part of investments into start-ups at an estimated by private players alone in 2016.

Among the more exciting opportunities one can expect in 2019 is the rising application of AI in healthcare to detect and diagnose health issues in individuals. Smart infrastructure to help balance rapid growth in urban centers in India is also an option being explored by the government. B. Tech programs now mandatorily have AI, IoT, Machine Learning and some other essential components of emerging technologies. However, constant changes in this dynamic field have made it mandatory for professionals to keep up skilling via a noted institution to remain relevant and job-worthy.

Authored by

Mr.Diwakar Chittora

CEO & Founder, Intellipaat 

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