A shortage of skilled researchers in the artificial intelligence (AI) field is a major issue holding back Indian AI startups from developing indigenous solutions in the field, investors and founders said at a session at the Global India AI Summit in New Delhi on Thursday.
“India is not lacking in capital, and it is being invested in great founders who are building some of the most interesting companies right now. In the AI ​​space, we are seeing the beginning of a very interesting wave of AI application companies,” said Rajan Annadan, managing director at Peak XV, a leading venture capital firm.
Click here to connect with us on WhatsApp
Anandan said the real problem in the field is a lack of qualified AI researchers in the country. “We need more AI researchers. Where will they come from?… 20% of the world’s AI researchers are from India, we should bring them back. Most of them are in the US, we should bring them back just like China has done successfully over the last 15 years,” he added.
Anandan also said India has the highest number of graduates in STEM fields. “We just need to ensure that we invest in them over a period of time.”
Highlighting the fact that funding is not an issue for AI startups, Anandan said the company has a headroom of Rs 16,000 crore to invest. “We alone are the only other company that has this amount of funding, so there is no dearth of capital. We just want more people to start up in the AI ​​space,” he added.
Fellow panelist Abhishek Appahwal, founder and CEO of Soket Labs, emphasized the need for talented researchers, especially when it comes to building foundational AI models, an area where Indian startups will have to compete with large global companies.
“When it comes to building the foundational model, I’m glad people are talking about the research aspect because ultimately that’s really important. Unless we break that particular barrier, we’re going to be primarily running and building on what’s been done before,” he said.
Citing OpenAI as an example, Upperwal said that due to a lack of resources, Indian companies will end up building on existing Western models like OpenAI.
“But to be on the cutting edge, you basically have to invest in research and break down that particular barrier,” he added.
The panellists unanimously agreed that home-grown AI talent and contextualisation of the data used to train language models were key requirements for Indian AI startups to succeed.
The panelists were speaking at a session at the Global India AI Summit, which concluded on Thursday at Mandapam, India, after two days of discussions and deliberations with participants from across the world.
On Wednesday, members of the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI), which was also at the summit, agreed on the group’s vision for the future, reaffirming their commitment to human-centered, trustworthy AI for all.
