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For artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data to find mainstream acceptance, it is necessary to impart stronger maths education. After all, to develop an algorithm for a connected car, chances are engineers may need more than coding skills.
Talking to BusinessLine on the sidelines of the Nasscom India Leadership Forum (NILF) here on Tuesday, Nasscom Chairman Raman Roy said there is an urgent need to relook the way education, especially related to maths, as it is at the heart of AI and Big Data. “The majority of the youth in college have to improve their maths skills, otherwise India cannot stay ahead in the age of automation and robotics,” he said.
The shift in the development and usage of technology over the past few years is changing the way codes are being thought through.
According to Akhilesh Tuteja, Partner and Head, Risk Consulting, KPMG, technologies like AI are built on the foundation of deductive reasoning and data science. “Aspiring AI developers need to have a better understanding of solving business problems and statistics, in addition to mathematics,” he said.
While deductive reasoning is at the heart of any code, the additional skill sets required — which involve a combination of understanding business domains and possessing strong maths and statistics abilities — are giving birth to roles like data scientists.
Change in mindset
Roy believes that India has the talent and can adapt to this changing need quickly. “Once the mindset changes — when parents ask their kids to specialise in maths and statistics, for example — things will change quickly,” he said, adding that right now the focus is more on becoming an engineer rather than a specialist.
Sumit Sood, MD, GlobalLogic, believes that while India has the talent, the mindset shift is yet to be seen. “Can they do the job? Maybe yes. But do they know how to do it? The answer is no,” he said.
Some in the industry also opine that India, for far too long, has rested on its English-speaking laurels and should have made a more aggressive attempt to master skills like maths and statistics. “While technology does all the heavy lifting in maths, if a student relies too much on it, it will be to their own detriment,” said a senior industry executive.
According to research firm Gartner, by 2020, 30 per cent of all B2B companies will employ AI to augment at least one of their primary sales processes.
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