NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant Urges Govt To Use AI To Solve Grassroot Problems

To edge the government towards artificial intelligence, NITI Aayog recently asked the state and central ministries to identify key tech-based projects which can be used to resolve problems in agriculture, education and health, among other sectors. According to a report in a national news wire, Amitabh Kant, the CEO of NITI Aayog, wrote to the state and central ministries, saying, "I write to request you to identify key projects where AI can be developed to solve problems affecting the health sector that you wish to drive forward... Niti Aayog has a team that works on the AI programme and I would like to extend all help in providing the necessary support, connecting to the concerned stakeholders and any other matter that may be required." NITI Aayog has estimated that AI has the potential to add $15.7 trillion to the global GDP by 2030, making it the biggest commercial opportunity in today's fast-changing Indian economy. During the interim budget session this year, in the absence of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Piyush Goyal, had said that importance will be given to creating a national centre for AI very soon. To make this happen, the Government gad identified nine priority areas to work towards creating a national portal for AI in 2019. The last couple of years, especially the year 2018 has been a very important year for the adoption of new technologies in the public sector. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) had unveiled a discussion paper which addresses the national strategy on AI and other emerging technologies in India. Here, the government think tank had identified five sectors to focus its efforts towards the implementation of AI to serve societal needs. The five sectors are healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure, smart mobility and transportation.