It is two weeks plus since the 2 day AI-Days 2024 event, and the buzz continues. The post event interactions, networking and feedback are ongoing.
With 2000 delegates, 175 volunteers, 150 ambassadors, 70 plus speakers, 8 key notes, multiple focused tracks, panel discussions, workshops, a Master Class and a hackathon - not to mention a foot-tapping, high decibel cultural show on day one - the event was hectic and had active participation. The participants were from a wide cross section - Govt agencies, research institutes, tech companies, IT services companies, academia, coders, startups, tech evangelists and students. The opening session, where affected farmer families occupied the centre stage and saw for themselves how AI can help make a difference, set the stage for the rest of the event.
Reflecting, these are my takeaways.
- AI is topical and of interest to everyone. This is validated by the fact that the event was over the long Easter weekend and still had such good participation.
- Prof Gaurav Raina's keynote on the #UntoldUPIStory touched a chord in everyone and underlined how technology can really make a difference. It resonated so well with the theme of the conference, #AI4Society
- There are alternate ways to build datasets and models - the Telugu ASR example showcased at the event and the background on how it was built in a short period of time - was telling proof that innovative minds are not constrained by lack of budgets.
- The collaborative spirit demonstrated was amazing, Government bodies, T-Hub, tech companies, educational institutes and individuals came forward and agreed to collectively accelerate the use of AI
- The large number of participants who came forward to sign up to work on future projects was encouraging, to say the least.
- Aligned to the theme of the event, multiple projects were identified even as the event unfolded and there are active discussions on executing them.
This is definitely not a one-off annual event. It is evolving into a series of activities, wave after wave, each one as exciting, to ensure #AI4Society is for real.
Watch the space!
Kiran Chandra, Chaitanya Chokkareddy, DR PRATAPA REDDY LANKIREDDY, Ramesh Loganathan, Praveen Chandrahas, Dr. Srikanth Sundararajan, Sujit Jagirdar, Jayesh Ranjan, Shikha Goel IPS, Bill Padfield