THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noting that big opportunities await Indian IT companies and startups in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain, experts participating in a technology conclave at Technopark have called for evolving upfront strategies to leverage the huge potential generated by the paradigm shift by revamping the academic curriculum.
They were speaking at ‘Transcend India 2024’ conclave, organised by NASSCOM FAYA: 80, the largest technology think-tank in Kerala, for IT industry stakeholders. The meet marked the first in a series of conclaves to be held in Technopark to engage IT industry and state agencies in absorbing conversations and help them reconfigure their AI strategies.
Experts from multinational companies and representatives of government agencies took part in the conclave, organised in association with Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) and Group of Technology Companies (GTech), at Technopark here. At the panel discussion on ‘Transcending Change: Essential Skills for the AI Era,’ Anoop Ambika, CEO, of KSUM, said a large number of jobs and skills are going to be around using the AI models that have been developed by big corporates which will open up a lot of new opportunities. On the impact of AI, Anoop said users of Large Language Model (LLM) will transform the careers and generation of data and retraining of models will make it better for a particular context that you are in.
Approaching the topic from an academic perspective, Saji Gopinath, Vice-Chancellor, of Digital University of Kerala, said introducing a flexible curriculum is vital and the varsity is trying to create curriculums that address everybody’s needs. Gopinath said a good teacher can actually excel his/her skills substantially with the help of AI.
Jibu Elias, Mozilla Responsible Computing Fellow, said it is critical to ensure that the next generation of students are not just cheap tech labourers but equipped with abundant skills combined with imagination and talent. Sunny Gupta, Senior Director, Viacom 18 & JioCinema, pointed out the need for having strong projects for techies to prove their mettle. Jayasankar Prasad, director, DC School of Management and Technology, was the moderator of the session.