AI for Good Governance: MeiTY organises ‘AI Pe Charcha’

New Delhi: Embracing the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in governance can help in devising better policies and predicting challenges earlier. Focused on this thought, the National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) recently organised an AI Pe Charcha (AI Dialogue) wherein the panellists discussed the importance of data-driven and AI-enabled governance along with the global best practices.

The session had speakers from diverse backgrounds leading to an engaging session for Government officials, AI enthusiasts, AI practitioners, youth, and those who want to understand the implementation aspects of AI. The eminent panellists spoke about the importance of using the right data and how different governments around the world have employed AI to standalone departments and processes for devising prudent policies.

In his opening remarks, Abhishek Singh, President and CEO, NeGD noted that there are ample amount of case studies from around the world on the use of AI in the fields of Healthcare, Agriculture, Skilling, Manufacturing etc. "What is needed is that such solutions become more ubiquitous and benefit people more and more," he said.

The keynote speaker at the session, Dr Martin Klein, Global General Manager, Public Services, SAP, Walldorf, Germany, shared his views on AI for Public Sector, Defence & Security, Postal Services, Future Cities. He noted that with a lot of data present across the globe, it becomes imperative to use the right data for the betterment of governance and processes. "AI-driven governance empowers us with the knowledge of predicting challenges and endows us with the ability to successfully mitigate such challenges; This helps us take actions proactively, draft citizen-friendly policies and also enhance our overall working processes," he said.

Rahul Lodhe, Senior Director, Engineering, Head of SAP Artificial Intelligence Foundation, India gave a presentation & demo of AI-driven solutions like Covid-19 City-scale simulator and Logistic modelling, Complex Document extraction to Government Resource Planning Systems and Intelligent Accounting Automation –Invoice, Receipt, Accounts Reconciliation using Machine Learning. He shared an insightful case study about a project of SAP done in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru on how an AI application helped in predicting the infection spread and impact of Covid-19 in India during the first wave. "Government of India is ready to harness the advantage of AI for building a better nation, especially in the area of social empowerment," he said.

Every speaker's session ended with live interaction between the attendees and the experts.

The AI Pe Charcha series has been initiated as a part of Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE), India's first global AI summit, which was organised by MeitY in 2020. Such initiatives by the Government of India have commenced a much-needed discourse on AI and would lead to certain positive, tangible meaningful changes in the overall economic and the social sphere.

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