HT Dialogues: The future of work in the era of AI
Several estimates suggest that 180 million youth that will be entering India’s workforce in the next 15 years. As India, one of the three largest economies of the world, inches towards being a developed country, the technological know-how of its future workforce is extremely crucial. So, the scope of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in India looks promising. AI has the potential to not just bring a change in the economy of the country, but it is also capable of transforming, creating and improvising several facets of human life. So, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had recently introduced AI in the school curriculum. The National Education Policy 2020, announced in July, 2020 also has promising features with respect to digital education. It has included all the tech-related features focussing on artificial intelligence the most.
The latest HT Dialogues discussion focusses on the importance of introducing AI and Machine Learning in the curriculum and the future prospectus of AI in work.
The session was attended by Shweta Khurana, Senior Director of Asia, Pacific-Japan, Global Government Affairs Group at Intel, L.V. Sehgal, Principal at Bal Bharati Public School, Ganga Ram Marg, Delhi; Dr. R. Hassija, Managing Director at Indraprastha Group of Schools, Dwarka, Paschim Vihar and NOIDA.
When asked about how learning AI in schools will bring a change in the students, Ms. Khurana said, “We have already seen AI make impacts in our lives. It is there as our virtual assistants, the algorithms that create targeted advertising to robot advisors. We, at Intel, believe that we can use these technologies to build a better world. Students need the right skills and resources in order to understand what AI is and the possibilities of it. India is the first country to have formally introduced AI as a subject of study as part of skilled education. We have collaborated with them, and the idea is not just that the students learn the technological knowledge behind it but also learn the core skills. At Intel AI for Youth, we talk about technical skills but also how to build a relevant mindset, an understanding of AI ethics, privacy concerns. Understanding these concepts will develop a student with not just hard skills but soft skills as well.”
Intel has launched its programme, AI For Youth in association with governments worldwide with the objective of ‘empowering youth with AI skills in an inclusive way.
Talking about the importance of adapting education of AI as a school curriculum, Dr. Hassija added, “Development of AI has brought a new paradigm of teaching and learning in schools. Introducing AI in schools will empower every teacher to transact the teaching learning process. It will help them to personalize the learning pattern therefore reducing the learning gap and embracing a more inclusive classroom, where teachers can recognize the competency of every learner and help them to strengthen their various skills and imbibe a quality education to the learners. AI doesn't have just one scope but it goes beyond many thought processes.”
The discussion also highlighted the socio economic challenges that come in the way, make AI education accessible to all. Sharing his thoughts on this, Sehgal said, “If we talk about inclusion in AI education, it means that there has to be inclusion in all aspects. We have to get across the digital divide and reach out to the most rural parts of India and advocate the efficiency and the urgency of the upcoming technical era to these children.” He further added, “We have to make the integration of technology into teaching possible every way, overcoming the problems that we had previously faced during the pandemic. This is a very relevant challenge that has to be brought into the light and worked upon. It is crucial that we take each and every child into our fold irrespective of the demographics and create an equal opportunity for all. We can start this by setting up small learning setups in the less technologically developed areas and with the dawn of the 5G world, we can integrate the learning of AI in schools too.”