IIT Kharagpur’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS), to develop a National Artificial Intelligence Resource Portal (NAIRP) to offer various learning resources on AI.
With initial funding from the Human Resources Ministry, NAIRP was launched as a part of the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) platform. Useful material for learning AI — textbooks, online courses, lectures, datasets, codes and other tools— will be made available through this portal.
The first version will be made available in a few months. This portal will use the AWS Cloud and also be connected to the in-house cloud developed at IIT Kharagpur. Being launched just when digital learning is being enforced everywhere — due to the pandemic restricting mobility— the portal could not have been better timed.
With foundational knowledge, the skills will be easier to pick up. The core topics include — search reasoning, machine learning and knowledge management. For advanced courses, a strong foundation is needed in statistical methods, linear algebra, algorithms and optimisation methods.
Courses on AI at IIT have always lured undergraduate and postgraduate students in large numbers, as AI is capable of performance that goes beyond one’s imagination. IIT Kharagpur also intends to launch a course called Artificial Intelligence for Economics, which will deliver machine learning, game theory and their applications on economics.
Artificial intelligence can play a huge role in the science side of economics to help tackle economic challenges, such as data-driven forecasting and evidence-based policy making. Using AI search and planning, Bayesian models, machine learning, text and data mining, and game theory will play a key role in economic decision-making, behavioural economics and market game.
Use of AI in ecommerce and tech platforms is burgeoning and AI can bring seismic changes in education, agriculture and healthcare as well. Jobs that can be automated, will be done so by AI , which will pave the way for fruitful jobs that need human intervention.
Teaching driven by AI will not require supervision. It can be personalised and can gauge progress, and aptitude, and even decide which path the students should follow.
