AI will "drive productivity" in India and be relevant for "rest of the world", Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's tour of India has put the spotlight on artificial intelligence and he has highlighted the abilities of the country's technology workforce to provide transformational economic growth and that too at good speed. India could be one of the countries that can benefit significantly from AI which may also result in solving the country's distinctive structural issues according to Nadella. In a number of interviews over the last few days, Nadella has said that he believes India, with its wide range of talent and massive developer community, could give major competition to developed countries even in this space and achieve transformational change. So, even though India initially missed the digital bus when it came Internet, computers, smartphones and more, currently, on AI, the country is right at the forefront of progress being made. At the Microsoft CEO Connection event in Mumbai, Nadella said, “This is the first time I feel what’s happening in India and what’s happening in the rest of the world—there is no impedance (delay), there is no gap.”

Satya Nadella on India’s AI development

Countries have been in a race to adopt new technologies such as AI to become more powerful, however, according to Nadella, India will be the most country that will benefit the most from harnessing this technology. Nadella highlighted the government's claim that AI could contribute approximately $500 million to India's GDP by 2025 and the technology could also contribute to reaching the massive goal of $ 5 trillion economy. Currently, India’s GDP is at $3.7 trillion.

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Nadella also highlighted his “tremendous optimism” for AI adoption in India which will contribute to fulfilling the the country’s goal of becoming a developed country by 2047.

While highlighting the AI adoption in India, he said, “If anything, the use cases here are so unique... and are paving their own path. And that’s what’s exciting. We’re not just talking about AI; we’re scaling AI.”Additionally, Nadella believed that AI could enhance productivity in various sectors including energy, retail, and healthcare. Economic Times quoted Nadella as saying, "Using AI, India can create solutions that not only deliver societal benefit and drive productivity for the country, but will also be “very relevant for the rest of the world."

The technology will not only scale the tech sector but it will also contribute to the growth of other areas of the country. Nadella said, “When you have a new general-purpose technology, how intensely you invest in deploying it across sectors inside the economy makes a difference to a country’s prospects going forward.”

Nadella said that personal computers had served to boost productivity in the workplace and now, AI will play that role. “This age of AI is really expertise at your fingertips," LiveMint reported Nadella as saying.

He added, “Think what happened to forecasting. Before personal computers, before emails and spreadsheets, how did we do forecasting? And then how did the business process of forecasting change? Same thing is happening now."

He also indicated that Microsoft will be a part of India's AI journey and that it aims to provide AI skills to two million aspiring people in the country.

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