How will India contribute to AI innovation in the world?

India has all the right markers of being a leader in the global AI-sphere. There’s a massive engineering workforce that can be trained in AI skills. A thriving start-up and enterprise scene spread out across the country that can foster innovation. There’s also a large amount of data being generated due to increased technology use with the proliferation of smartphones leading to large swathes of the population going online.
What’s holding AI progress back right now is the lack of existing skilled professionals who can work on AI problems. 76% of companies in India feel the shortage of skilled professionals is slowing down their AI adoption. Fundamental research and progress has largely been concentrated in the US and China, but that development will quickly reach India with the internet facilitating an easy exchange of ideas and data.
What this is means is that India is in a peculiar position right now. It is brimming with the potential to play a part in shaping the technological future of the world, but the path to that is filled with many significant hurdles.
It has been evident for a long time that AI is the way of the future, and India has already woken up to this reality. There’s a burgeoning AI scene that has silently been transforming how small companies and enterprises have been running their operations. It has progressed from being a nascent trend from a few years ago and is on the brink of explosive growth. This has been a gently nudged along with comprehensive and relevant technical expertise being offered by organisations such as Great Learning, who offer programs that help candidates participate in the new job market.
Since the state of the AI job market is in a growing phase right now, it can be challenging to take a snapshot of how it’s currently faring. That why Great Learning, one of India’s leading technical education companies has partnered with Analytics India Magazine to put together The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI 2018-19, which offers an extensive look at the AI Landscape in India.
This report is a result of extensive primary and secondary research, carried out over a period of six months. The research methodology included a systematic plan to identify the various factors influencing job scenarios around artificial intelligence in India. The data was collected through research on leading job portals in India, interactions with 100+ companies and 1000+ professionals across all major cities in India. The samples were collected by quizzing participants on employment trends in AI, salary structure from fresher to managerial level, cities that offer best opportunities for these jobs, tools and skills that companies are looking for, analytics jobs across company types, and much more.