Meet man, IIT Delhi professor who spent 20 years doing research in AI, now wants every Indian to study it, the reason is…

In recent times, AI has seen a surge in adoption and integration across various industries, significantly impacting how tasks are performed and decisions are made. While some jobs are being displaced, new opportunities are also emerging as AI handles repetitive tasks and provides insights that were previously inaccessible. In this article, we will tell you about one such professor who wants every Indian to study AI.

Meet IIT Delhi professor Mausam, who wants every Indian to study AI

Professor Mausam, with over two decades of research experience, he has made significant contributions to diverse areas, including large-scale web information extraction, AI-driven optimization of crowdsourced workflows, and probabilistic planning. Currently on sabbatical in the US, Mausam is working as a visiting natural language processing (NLP) researcher in Bloomberg's Artificial Intelligence Group. His impressive 35-page CV showcases his extensive work in computer science and artificial intelligence (AI).

When Professor Mausam developed interest in AI?

Mausam's interest in AI was sparked during his time at the University of Washington, where he took his first AI course. The course emphasized the immense future potential of AI for humanity, and Mausam's belief that intelligence is what makes humans special led to a curiosity and zeal to work on mimicking that intelligence in machines. "The idea that you can make the machine intelligent, maybe as intelligent as a human, was an inspiring philosophical idea then. But achieving that was a distant dream. The dream does not appear as far today," says Mausam.

Why Professor Mausam wants everyone to study AI?

Mausam believes that most high-quality, fundamental research in AI in India is being done at premier institutions like the Indian Institute of Science and the older IITs. While India's productivity in AI has been increasing, the country still lags behind the US, China, and some smaller nations. "The reason for that is generally the fact that researchers do not return to India after their PhD," says Mausam, attributing it to better quality of life, professional environment, and emoluments abroad.

However, he also believes that a fair amount of good work is being and applied research in India, particularly in solving problems specific to the country. Examples include Indian multilingual AI models, AI-powered detection of diseases like gallbladder cancer, and pest detection in agriculture. "I would still say that for the size of the country that we are, and the leadership position in the world that we have aspirations for, we are fairly behind on our AI research credentials," he added.

Advice for AI students and founders

Mausam's advice for AI students and founders in India is to build strong fundamentals before diving into AI applications. "Don't jump in trying to create an AI application without really understanding what AI is and how it has been trained in depth. The hope of a quick path to success can be appealing. But successes often remain elusive, if not built over strong fundamentals."