BENGALURU: India has an important role to play, not just in technology and product development, but also in research in AI, said Yann LeCun, vice president and chief AI scientist at Meta.
Speaking at the company's AI Summit in Bengaluru on Wednesday, LeCun said, "We see a lot of people from India making major technical and scientific contributions to AI."
He added that the country holds immense potential in shaping the future of AI in cutting-edge research. "The country's contributions to AI, particularly in areas like natural language understanding, are vital for advancing technologies that can serve diverse populations. As AI continues to evolve, India is poised to play a pivotal role in driving innovation on a global scale," he said.
The chief AI scientist also pointed out that AI is not going to dominate us or take over, but is going to amplify human intelligence. He said, “Paris is now probably the second most vibrant place for AI startups in the world… Bangalore is not far behind, and probably progressing quickly.”
Speaking at a panel discussion along with LeCun, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani said, "We think that we can build on top of digital public infrastructure." He said this is giving the foundation to go to AI much more rapidly.
He added, "We believe AI will amplify everything we have done so far and promote inclusion."
Sandhya Devanathan, Vice President and Head, Meta India, said they believe in the country's potential to lead the way in AI, just as it did with mobile internet. "AI’s breakthroughs are giving us the tools to solve problems once thought impossible, and India’s readiness to embrace open-source AI is fueling this transformation. With our Llama models and AI assistants like Meta AI, we’re confident India will be at the forefront of this AI revolution, driving growth, innovation, and digital transformation across industries," she added.