Digital India & Intel initiative: AI-Based Responsible Solutions Win the Day

As part of the celebrations marking Azadi Ka Digital Mahotsav week (Nov 29 - Dec 5, 2021) top 20 projects, presenting Artificial Intelligence (AI) based solutions, created under Responsible AI For Youth- a national programme for government schools, were announced on 30th November. The 27 students from government schools, across the country representing these projects, were felicitated by Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Hon’ble Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Railways and Communications.

These students- 13 girls and 14 boys- from 14 states and 1 UT have been part of the program designed by the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, and tech giant Intel.

Building Digital Readiness, Inclusively

Exclusively aimed at providing children in government schools an opportunity to create a digital-first mindset, skillset and toolset, Responsible AI For Youth was launched in May 2020. This program is part of Intel’s efforts to help build digital readiness by demystifying and democratising AI in collaboration with policymakers and academia, the world over.’

In India, intel has been working with various government agencies and ministries such as CBSE, Ministry of Education and MEITy to help spread the reach of AI to drive digital readiness through various initiatives like AI For Youth and AI For All. Intel aims to work with 30,000 institutions the world over to empower 30 million youth with AI to support United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Responsible AI For Youth has been successful in empowering youth along the length and breadth of the country to become ‘AI ready’ and help reduce the AI skill gap in India. With various training and orientation sessions as part of this program, students got an opportunity to identify social issues from around them which could be solved using AI. During these sessions, the students were also introduced to the importance of building solutions that were responsible, sustainable and inclusive in nature.

Program’s progress

Responsible AI For Youth was carried out in three phases. In phase, I, the program reached out to 52, 628 students from 35 states and UTs from 5, 724 cities. Of this, 11, 466 students completed the first level of AI training.

In phase II, 100 project ideas were selected. Represented by 125 students from 25 States and UTs, the students were provided extensive training and mentorship by intel coaches. In the final phase, top 60 projects were selected for a national showcase which was then again shortlisted to get the top 20 projects winners.

The AI-based projects offered interesting solutions to problems in various sectors, ranging from agriculture to health and from traffic to education. The winning projects included:

The AI Waste Classifier, Ayurtech Band, AI Idea in Healthcare to diagnose patients, App of Growth for farmers to identify crops that can be best harvested at a given time, Divyang Roshni a computer vision-based Cerebral Palsy detector, Virtual Assistance cum Parental Guidance, Tree Thinning Scanner, ‘Mitti ko jaano, fasal pehchano’ Soil analysis and crop recommendation technology, Artificial Intelligence is a Boon for Healthcare, Helper of visually challenged, Be attentive or Drowsiness detection in students, AthleteX for the Atmanirbhar Athlete, Smart Eye, Body Tracker, App for hearing-impaired, Weed and Crop Detection System, Life Saver and Doctors Helper.

Looking towards gen-next

These AI-based solutions helped to highlight how technology can be a great enabler for improving life all around. The program’s beneficiaries who belonged to different parts of the country, as well as different strata, also proved with their projects that with the right kind of training, opportunities and platform, the youth of our country could bring in impactful change with their innovations.

The felicitation ceremony was also attended by Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov; President & CEO NeGD; MD & CEO Digital India Corporation (DIC), Ministry of Electronics and IT, Ms. Nivruti Rai, Country Head, Intel India and Vice President, Intel Foundry Services Shri Bhuvnesh Kumar, Joint Secretary, MeitY, Shri Rakesh Asthana, Delhi Police Commissioner and Shri Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY.