Talent is much more fundamental challenge in AI: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday said technological talent, not chip-driven compute power, is the key to India's progress in artificial intelligence (AI).

"Fifteen years ago you measured academic institutions by how many students got hired by Google or went abroad. Now it is about what kind of platforms the students of a particular institution are building for the world," Chandrasekhar said at the CNBC-TV18 and Moneycontrol Global AI Conclave.

"Talent is a much more fundamental challenge in AI. We need universities to churn out masters and PhDs in AI. Talent is something that keeps me awake at night. The infrastructure pieces will get solved very quickly," he added.

The minister also stated that the current shortage of advanced chips driving the global race for AI computing power would soon be resolved, the report mentioned.

At the Conclave, he discussed the government's efforts to construct the infrastructure required for emerging technologies like AI to boost India's tech economy to a trillion dollars by 2026.

Earlier this week, Chandrasekhar said that there is a serious need for the tech industry and academic institutions to work along with the governments globally in shaping the future pipeline of talent for AI-related jobs.

Addressing a fireside chat session on the second day of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) summit in the capital, the minister said that nurturing talent is something that governments can help but certainly cannot play a lead role, and industry and the academicians have to work together for the jobs of the future.