As the government goes about drawing a blueprint for artificial intelligence (AI) in the country, Niti Aayog — which has been tasked with the job — has invited the co-founder of Google Brain and former chief scientist at Baidu to lend his expertise for India.

Andrew Ng, the Chinese-American computer scientist has been invited to hold a discussion with Cabinet ministers, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on how AI can be deployed in the country. The founder of Coursera, one of the largest online education platforms, says he is open to India’s invitation.

“I give a lot of kudos to any government that is willing to create a thoughtful plan, because we live in an era in which whenever there is a technological disruption, leadership matters,” Andrew Ng told ET in an interview.



Efforts by governments such as that in India can “step up” embracing AI and make a huge difference in the course of the development of the country. Andrew said that he will have to study the details in terms of the demographics of India along with the opportunities as well as the challenges facing India. “I think it would be really sad if we end up building an AI-powered society and India is not a part of it. So, I will do whatever I can to help.”

A Niti Aayog official did not comment specifically on the invitation to Andrew but said, “Government will be reaching out to top national and international experts on AI to advise on the strategy.”

While presenting the Budget 2018, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said that Niti Aayog will spearhead a national programme on artificial intelligence. “Niti Aayog to establish a national programme to direct efforts towards artificial intelligence, including research and development of its applications,” he had said.

In August last year, the Ministry of Commerce formed a task force on AI for India’s economic transformation headed by V Kamakoti, a professor of computer science at IIT Madras. The task force submitted its report to the government in early February.

“There is an absolute need for AI to be adopted in every country and it will bring in change of every domain of life, be it manufacturing, financial services or environment,” he said “Firstly, people should be made aware of what is AI, secondly, processes should be drawn which look into interdisciplinary, legal, philosophical as well as technical issues and then comes the technology which will then be used to implement the AI,” Kamakoti added.