Indian companies are betting big on artificial intelligence as they see disruption amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Indian companies have adapted to artificial intelligence faster than their counterparts in the US, UK and Japan, a PwC research said. Amidst the global pandemic, India has noted the highest increase in the use of AI as compared to major economies (the US, UK and Japan), the PwC research said Many Indian companies saw their supply chains getting disrupted as India decided to opt for a lockdown to contain the Covid pandemic. For several companies this meant that they had to come up with fresh strategies around manufacturing and supplying goods. "Indian organisations are firm in their resolve to combat the challenges of the pandemic, with the manufacturing sector reconfiguring traditional practices to automate value chain processes and the Government engaging with technology firms to solve problems in the new normal (e.g. Similarly, universities, start-ups and the healthcare sector have developed AI-powered diagnostic guidance systems to help patients and models to predict the spread of the virus," the PwC research said.

AI has led to drastic changes across sectors. On one hand, WHO has reported that the prevalence of chronic disease is expected to rise by 57% by 2020. On the other hand, advancements in detecting and diagnosing diseases are expected to minimize the cost of treating chronic diseases. These innovative technologies include genomics, proteomics, cell biology, stem cell and organ therapy, and minimally invasive and robotic surgery. Most importantly, majority of these new advancements are likely to be fuelled by Artificial Intelligence (AI).