Country needs skilled personnel in AI & data analytics, says minister

AT A time when the country's Information Technology industry is forced to carry out mass layoffs, experts argue that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science sectors offer a glimmer of hope. While it is feared that IT jobs are being lost to robots, Y S Chowdary, Minister of State for Science & Technology, told The Indian Express that the country lacks skilled personnel in the fields of Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. "Softwares are evolving and we need new kinds of skills. There is a huge demand-supply gap in data analytics field," said Chowdary. "Majority of government missions is based on historical data. However, today there is data available even from the unorganised population. We need to concentrate on capacity building to analyse this data to better our governance," said Chowdary, who was the chief guest at a Data Science Congress held in the city earlier this month.