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Sudeshna Sarkar of IIT Kharagpur says that while artificial intelligence has been around for the last seven decades, it has taken off only in the last two thanks to machine learning. That has been possible due to the enormous amounts of digital data being captured both in structured and unstructured form. “What an AI system can achieve can only be limited by imagination. It’s one of the most disruptive technologies. It can be transformational in social areas, in scientific discovery,” Sarkar, who heads the computer science & engineering department and the centre for artificial intelligence, says. That is the reason courses on AI at the IITs draw tremendous response from students, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. IIT Kharagpur is now planning a course titled Artificial Intelligence for Economics, which will deal with machine learning, game theory and their application in the subject. “AI can play an important role in the science of … [Read more...] about IIT Kharagpur, AWS jointly developing AI learning, devt portal

Cloud has been a buzzword for some years. But with Covid-19 and the lockdowns, it looks like suddenly almost everyone is talking cloud. And the reason is, cloud can handle disruptions and distributed work better than inhouse data centres. This was the subject of our discussion on Times Techies Webinars last week, a discussion we organised in association with data management and hybrid cloud services company NetApp. Ravi Chhabria, MD of NetApp India, and VP of hybrid cloud engineering at NetApp, said speed and agility are the hallmarks of cloud. When the Covid lockdowns were suddenly announced and entire supply chains were disrupted, companies couldn’t possibly beef up their inhouse data centres to cater to the requirements of all employees working from home. “You don’t have the time to say I’m going to build it out,” said Chhabria. But with cloud, you can almost instantly scale up your compute and network requirements. If your software applications are … [Read more...] about Why post-Covid cloud has become the talk of the tech world

Madhya Pradesh-based agritech startup Farmkart, which offers a wide range of agricultural products and services to farmers through its e-commerce platform, is planning to raise Rs 90 crore in Series A funding from venture capitalists for expansion across the country. "At present we are functioning at 1,240 locations in Madhya Pradesh. We plan to begin our immediate expansion to 8,000 locations in Maharashtra, Gujarat, southern region and reach one lakh (locations) by December 2021, across the country in next one year. Initially, we had invested Rs 15 crore in this venture and are looking to raise Rs 90 crore in Series A funding through venture capitalists," said Farmkart founder Atul Patidar. Recently in one of the episodes of 'Mann Ki Baat', Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the efforts of Patidar to digitally connect farmers and deliver farming items to their doorsteps. Farmkart's tech solutions are designed for non-tech savvy farmers providing them with fertilisers, … [Read more...] about Agritech startup Farmkart to raise Rs 90 crore financing for pan-India expansion

Vodafone Idea's marketing director Avneesh Khosla said the telco is working with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and consumer finance companies to make smartphones affordable for its customers in India. Vodafone Idea also wants to ensure that smartphones reach its last-mile customer, Khosla told Mint. Vodafone Idea, which recently rebranded as Vi, Friday said that it entered into strategic partnerships with key players in the areas of Learning & Upskilling, Health & Wellness, and Business help to offer benefits to its customers. Khosla said that these strategic pacts with help rhe cash-strapped telco to create new revenue streams from various sectors. "It is going to be a meaningful revenue stream…this (the partnerships) is again something that we have very very clearly outlined as one of our strategic moves as we move forward… A strong source of revenue for us as we move this agenda forward," Khosla was quoted as saying by the publication. The telco … [Read more...] about Vodafone Idea working with OEMs, lending companies to make smartphones affordable: Report