Education sector needs to prepare for AI-driven future

The second of a three-part series reports on how educational institutes are addressing skill shortage in artificial intelligence

- SANKET KOUL

A major challenge in unlocking the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) is access to skilled talent, a problem that even India, with one of the largest AI talent pools, is grappling with.

While numerous reports highlight that India ranks among the global leaders in AI, machine learning (ML), and data analytics talent, there is still a significant shortage. Many companies are struggling to find the right expertise.

According to Nasscom's State of Data Science & AI Skills in India report, the current AI skills gap in India stands at 51 per cent.

There is a higher demand-supply disparity for roles such as machine learning engineers, data scientists, DevOps engineers, and data architects. Here, the demand-supply gap is between 60 and 73 per cent.

Experts and industry players told Business Standard that there is an urgent need for industry-academia collaboration.

What is also crucial is that educational institutes must also gear up for research in AI. According to a recent report by Change Engine — an AI accelerator — when it comes to paper contribution in top AI conferences, India's rank is 14th and its global share is a mere 1.4 per cent. Compare this to the US and China, which dominate AI research with 30.4 per cent and 22.8 per cent share, respectively.

The report also highlights that top institutes contributing papers to mega AI conferences include IISc Bangalore, IIT-Bombay, IIT-Madras, IIT-Delhi and IIIT-Delhi.

The report also recommends that the country needs to build capacity in AI basic research.

It also recommends that India must aim for at least 5 per cent of global contribution in the next three-five years. It also said that research in AI — which is concentrated among the top 20 institutions in the country — should focus on exponentially increasing capacity.

When it comes to AI-focused courses, too, Indian institutes are just about ramping up their offerings.