How India is carving out a niche for itself in the field of Artificial Intelligence

When 62-year-old computer scientist P Anandan started last September as CEO at the Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence (WIAI), he might have been apprehensive. He was signing up to work on AI in India after three decades at major global corporations and academia in the US and at home, including top teaching and research roles at Yale University, Adobe and Microsoft. Misconceptions abound about big data, machine learning, automation and other AI-related technologies in the context of job losses for humans. And unlike other major economies, India hadn't yet spelled out its vision for a future with AI. But when Anandan set out to work, he found support all around. In February, the Prime Minister inaugurated the institute.