By Ranjan K Baruah
We are moving ahead for our future and new career avenues are getting more demands in the age of science and technology. One of the areas where we may focus more is artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence (AI), sometimes called machine intelligence, is intelligence demonstrated by machines, unlike the natural intelligence displayed by humans and animals. Leading AI textbooks define the field as the study of “intelligent agents”: any device that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of successfully achieving its goals. Colloquially, the term “artificial intelligence” is often used to describe machines (or computers) that mimic “cognitive” functions that humans associate with the human mind, such as “learning” and “problem solving”.
In today’s world we have seen the importance of machines and computers. The recent pandemic due to COVID 19 has bough human more close to machine system. Right from online classes for the young people to healthcare for the elders, we are all connected with machines and systems. AI is poised to disrupt our world. With intelligent machines enabling high-level cognitive processes like thinking, perceiving, learning, problem solving and decision making, coupled with advances in data collection and aggregation, analytics and computer processing power, AI presents opportunities to complement and supplement human intelligence and enrich the way people live and work.
India, being the fastest growing economy with the second largest population in the world, has a significant stake in the AI revolution. With incredible advances made in data collection, processing and computation power, intelligent systems can now be deployed to take over a variety of tasks, enable connectivity and enhance productivity. As AI’s capabilities have dramatically expanded, so have its utility in a growing number of fields.
While AI has the potential to provide large incremental value to a wide range of sectors, adoption till date has been driven primarily from a commercial perspective. But it is not only limited to commercial perspectives and it can make positive impacts on other social areas too. According to a paper of NITI Aayog, in India it can make impact in a) Healthcare: increased access and affordability of quality healthcare, b) Agriculture: enhanced farmers’ income, increased farm productivity and reduction of wastage, c) Education: improved access and quality of education, d) Smart Cities and Infrastructure: efficient and connectivity for the burgeoning urban population, and e) Smart Mobility and Transportation: smarter and safer modes of transportation and better traffic and congestion problems.
There is no doubt that AI might just be the single largest technology revolution of our live times, with the potential to disrupt almost all aspects of human existence. With many industries aggressively investing in cognitive and AI solutions, global investments are forecast to achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50.1% to reach USD57.6 billion in 2021.
There are many institutes offering courses related to AI. Aspirants should be from the science stream to do courses related to AI. Different IIT, IIITs, NITs apart from other leading institutes in India offers courses related to AI. There are some online courses to make students aware of the foundations and basics of AI. Job opportunities are in different sectors which are related to AI or similar activities. There are start ups in India related with the same areas. Government of India has started many projects where qualified aspirants may join. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has started different initiatives and projects.
There is no doubt that future belongs to them who are qualified and skilled and plan career accordance with time. The future is more with AI or machine learning. This is the right time to choose these kinds of subjects to make our career vibrant and get placement easily and at the same stay safe and stay healthy in the time of pandemic.
(The author is a career mentor and can be contacted at 8473943734 or [email protected] for career related queries)