Pittsburgh_Patrika_July_2018

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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 23, No. 4, July 2018 Perfect Weddings EVENT PLANNING INDIAN CATERERS SPACIOUS ROOMS 164 Fort Couch Road, Pittsburgh 412-347-0349 had the means to educate us in good schools and send us to the US. Many billions of people around the world — especially those struggling in poverty in India and other developing countries — are not so lucky. It is up to us to help our fellow human beings who have not been as blessed.” Sunil’s thoughts have been drifting along these lines for quite some time. So he decided to put a small portion of his resources to good use in India, with possibilities of having a global impact. Joining with his older brother Romesh Wadhwani, a California-based venture capitalist, the two Wadhwanis each donated $15 million and founded the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence (WIAI). The thrust of the Wadhwani Institute is “harnessing the power of AI to solve deep-rooted problems in healthcare, education, agriculture, and infrastructure to accelerate social development.” Though the institute’s beneficiaries can be global, its immediate focus is on the Indian subcontinent and Asia, where it is most needed, and where the impact can be high. In March of this year, in Mumbai, the Wadhwani Institute of AI went on-stream, with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating it in the presence of the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, its Governor Vidyasagar and many other dignitaries. In the opening ceremony, Modi said, “The Wadhwani AI institute is a prime example of how the public sector and the private sector can come together with good 12
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol, 23, No. 4, July 2018 HYATT REGENCY PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LAUREN SORIANO-724.899.6045 Packages Starting at $57.00 Per Guest The HYATT trademark and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt Corporation or its affiliates. ©2015 Hyatt Corporation. All rights reserved. intentions to build a world-class institute, aimed at benefiting the poor." Sunil said, “The government of Maharashtra has committed land, but the details are still being worked out. Currently, ten full-time employees are working at the institute, which is likely to go to 30-plus full-time employees specializing in AI in three years.” Around one hundred researchers from affiliated institutes outside India will be working on AI applications for social good at the institute. The Wadhwani Institute, a fully independent body, will be closely working with the University of Bombay to develop a master’s program on Data Sciences and AI. In a press release on the occasion, Sunil said, "AI is a game-changing technology. There’s a lot of research being done at companies like Amazon, Google and Alibaba, and at universities like Carnegie Mellon and MIT. However, virtually all of that is targeted at commercial applications, and there’s little or no research on how to use AI to accelerate social development. Our goal is to have, within the next two years, over 100 researchers working on leveraging AI to improve the quality of life for the bottom two billion people in the world.” So founding this institute is gratifying to the Wadhwani brothers and their families. Responding to a question, Sunil said, “The institute is looking for hiring the best AI researchers from around the world who are also passionate about social development. Because of our location in India and our initial focus on applying AI to social development in India and other developing countries, most of these have been of Indian origin so far. As we expand, we expect our workforce to become more global in nature.” 13
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