IISER Kolkata hosts symposium on eco-friendly and inclusive AI

KOLKATA: Commemorating World Environment Day, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata and GreenAI Services Private Limited jointly designed and delivered a pivotal symposium on Friday.

The landmark event gathered top technologists, academicians, and industry leaders to discuss the future of eco-friendly, culturally inclusive artificial intelligence in India.

Sunil Kumar Khare, Director of IISER Kolkata highlighted the successful partnership between the institute and GreenAI Services in conceptualizing and executing the June 5 event. He emphasized the critical need to align the nation's rapid technological advancement with global environmental consciousness.

A major highlight of the symposium was the address by Amitava Nag, CEO of Bhasini, who underscored a powerful synergy between national tech initiatives and the Green AI movement. Championing resource-efficient computing, Nag presented a groundbreaking, real-world use case: running AI-based, voice-first call centers utilizing just three GPUs. He emphasized that rather than relying on astronomically costly and energy-intensive data centers for generalized Large Language Models (LLMs), India is strategically poised to pioneer more inclusive, domain-specific, and language-specific models.

Expanding on the vital theme of inclusivity, Professor Sudeshna Sarkar from IIT Kharagpur spotlighted India's traditional knowledge systems, noting their deep roots in oral traditions and tribal communities. She proposed a visionary approach to tech education—delivering it within a "culturally soaked ecosystem." This framework aims to empower students from indigenous communities to learn cutting-edge technology natively, ensuring that a Santal or Boro student can master AI in their own language.

Echoing this grassroots focus, Professor Prasenjit Majumder, Founder and Director of GreenAI Services, presented scalable frameworks for democratizing technology. He demonstrated how highly effective, low-cost AI laboratories can be rapidly developed and deployed at the school and college levels across the country, bridging the digital divide without massive infrastructure budgets.

Bringing a macro-level policy perspective, Professor Arnab Bhattacharyya of IIT Kanpur spoke on the broader objectives of the India AI Mission. He reinforced that the core goal of the mission—developing AI models strictly for India—intrinsically relies on the dual pillars of Sovereign AI and Sustainable AI.