How is AI going to help secure our border? Will the recent problems with China create more jobs in AI?

7 min readOct 1, 2020

The recent attack on the India-China Border is considered as one of the deadliest attacks in recent years. With significant casualties and loss of invaluable countrymen, India has started giving answers to its counterpart in various measures. The border issue has made India think of using innovative technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in solving the casualty’s complication. The intelligent technology can do wonders at the borders with its thermal sensing, satellite transmission techniques and machine intelligence, without causing any harm to human lives.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has not yet gained wide popularity in the Indian markets, but developments are on a steady rise in the last couple of years. The number of interaction platforms built in the last two years has shown the exponential surge of AI-based technology in the Indian market. From ordering food to buying TVs online, everything can be done with just a click of a button. AI technology has become a part of our day-to-day lives without our knowledge, and it is making our lives simpler, easier and convenient. The AI-based activities include social media, unlocking phones through Face ID, digital voice assistants, Google search, smart home devices, travel applications, banking systems, movies at your home screens and much more. To clearly understand the technology, let us discuss it in detail.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial Intelligence is the computational methods and scientific abilities of a machine to mimic the human brain in order to perform human-like tasks. In simple terms, Artificial Intelligence is the science that produces machines to perform tasks that basically requires human intelligence. The main objectives of artificial intelligence are problem-solving, decision making, perception, understanding human communication in any language and learning.

Career in Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence jobs have been increasing steadily, but only a few people are qualified enough to be employed. On a confident note, it is possible to say that it offers guaranteed employment for people with the required skill set. A graduate degree in Computer Science (MS or PhD) and in-depth knowledge in math and science are the basic Artificial Intelligence skills required to start a career in AI. The other skills required are as follows:

Well-versed with numerous Programming Languages (C, C++, Python, Java)
Solid knowledge of statistics, calculus, applied math and probability.
Vast knowledge of distributed computing efficiency.
Understand complex algorithms and knowledge of Advanced Signal Processing Techniques.
Thorough on the concept of Artificial Neural Networks.
Have the best interpersonal and communication skills, along with problem-solving skills.
Have leadership and management skills

Possible areas of AI applications in India

The Digital India Mission can be accomplished in a faster way by using AI for its big data analysis.
Predicting accurate weather forecasts and future mishaps that can help the farmer’s crisis, crop losses, disaster management and much more.
The technology can be used for smart border surveillance and monitoring to enhance the security infrastructure at the critical points.
New policies can be formulated by analyzing road safety data and NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau).
Introducing a robotic army at the patrolling operations and counterinsurgency attacks to save the countless lives of defence personnel.
AI in healthcare can speed the process of vaccine discovery and give precise diagnostics.
Government processes can be automated using AI, which minimizes human interactions and maximizing transparency.

Gaining knowledge of AI

The latest films like Avengers: Age of Ultron, Chappie, The Imitation Game and Interstellar have shown AI technologies in the best practical ways possible. The fiction part is slowly becoming a reality with robots replacing humans in many jobs in different parts of the world. People are fascinated by these beliefs and started jumping into learning the digital technology. Free online courses and E-Learning sources are available for getting artificial intelligence certification. Machine learning and artificial intelligence courses have started gaining popularity among the young generations. Many institutes have come into teaching AI certificate course.

One such institute is the Great Learning, which offers Machine Learning courses and AI courses over the internet for the aspiring students. Students have started taking online classes and learning from different sources to stay updated on modern technology. Joining a reputed institute is the final option to achieve your career in AI.

AI in Defence Forces:

The Indian defence forces have to think of ways to minimize bloodshed at the borders to stop undesirable misfortunes. The profitable way to avoid minimal casualty is by introducing innovative technology like AI into the picture. The recent trend to replace soldiers at the border with smart robots, have started shaping into form. With the recent loss of our invaluable soldiers, this can be the best alternative. Smart surveillance robots can be monitored by officers to provide defensive and offensive capabilities for any defence forces. AI Projects can offer brilliant strategies for military applications which include intelligence analysis, information processing, data analysis and storage.

The significant roles AI and robotics can play in the defence applications are:

Providing real-time recommendations for mission planning and execution in all operations.
Identification of shooters or specific targets in the closely built-up areas and provide target classification.
Grants expert systems for maintenance and diagnosis of sophisticated weapon systems (radars and missiles).
Robotic technology can provide precision targeting support and ammunition carriage.
Provides intent recognition, decision-making abilities, optimization of human intelligence assets and mission support.
Offer enhanced base security and minimal risk to personnel by vision and speech recognition.
Analysis of route maps, forecasts, supplies and number of personnel in real-time applications to provide efficient mission planning.
Provide crucial data (enemy identification or disaster) by thermal sensors, data analytics and forecasts will enable lessor damage at the time of disaster.

Challenges faced during AI implementation

Artificial Intelligence has entered into almost every business domain, namely finance, marketing, healthcare, transportation, agriculture, e-commerce, criminal justice, education and many others. From a small watch to a large aeroplane, everything has a pinch of AI-based technology in it. India is a developing country that can use the technology to a greater advantage for solving all its major problems. But there are some challenges faced by AI implementation:

Lack of precise reasoning

The AI technology operates as a system that does not clearly give the exact reason behind a particular decision, forecast or classification made by it. This causes a lack of confidence, trust and transparency of using the system generated decisions.

Misjudgment of contextual awareness

AI-based technologies are the best in performing with given rules and parameters but have significant limitations in terms of making decisions at critical times. AI systems have a brain-like feature of humans which makes them unable to learn from their current environment.

Huge job losses

The increase in automatic machines and systems can result in significant loss of jobs at operational and lower sill level tasks. Every organization should have a thorough knowledge of how the AI works if the transition occurs rapidly. They should know how to manage the automation, select the terms on the automation, impact of AI-enabled systems on human performance and how to manage the automation errors.

These are the main reasons why AI-based technologies have not reached a large group of Indian people. When these are understood, AI technology could be put best at use.

Future of Artificial Intelligence

The COVID-19 and China dispute has bought a revolutionary transformation in India from radical ways to the modern, innovative strategies. China and India were competing to be the leaders of AI race when the pandemic situation has flattened the curve on both sides. The dispute made India lose major ties with China which can have a significant loss in the economy of China. Now, India has joined with the US to make ethical development in AI after losing ties with China. This will create more job opportunities in India for Artificial Intelligence professionals and aspiring graduates. The “Make in India” campaign is an additional boost to this opportunity with providing AI research bases in India itself.

Artificial Intelligence offers a bright and promising future in India that can give huge incremental values to every sector. IT companies and startups have initiated to update their technologies to AI-based to stay ahead of the competition. The right skills are a crucial factor for this technology which has to be kept in mind. Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Chennai have many startups that are already earning in large denominations by delivering their works on AI directly to customers. The E-Commerce, OTT platforms, Ed-Tech have gained wide popularity in the pandemic times. Marketing has also found digital ways to attract an extensive set of audiences. Universities and colleges have started research in AI, which encourages more people to know the existence of the course and take it as a career opportunity.

Government has also stating using AI-based technologies to catch criminals, handle traffic, dealing with cleanliness of roads, do behavioral biometry, identifying suspects instantly with face and voice recognition and much more. Artificial Intelligence future is a rock-solid growth in India and a promising career for the aspirants.

Conclusion

India has a crystal clear understanding that disruption by technology is inevitable, and it will have to adopt it at any cost. The undesirable losses and unnecessary disasters can be avoided with such smart technology in their pockets. AI can be put to effective use for the steady growth of the country in all means. Even though India is pacing slowly in the AI race, it is sure to achieve immense development in digital intelligence. AI can improve the productivity and efficiency of any organization with the right choice of AI-based technology. Even though it could bring substantial position losses, it can certainly create an outstanding amount of job opportunities to the country.