AI Tech Vision for Goa: An Interview with AI Expert Saurabh Kanekar

Discover the insights of with an expert’s perspective

In the Interview with Goa News Hub, Saurabh Kanekar discusses the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in various domains such as healthcare and creative fields such as generating images, text, or videos just by providing simple descriptions. He shares his experience of developing an AI system for Goan local Konkani language. He highlights the lack of digitized data sets for low resource languages such as Konkani and advises building high-quality datasets for different AI tasks. Kanekar also proposes using AI in government departments, such as speech-to-text translation, transformer-based optical character recognition, and CCTV infrastructure. Moreover, he encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to make use of incubation centers and pitch their ideas to the government to gain practical experience and develop their skills for future opportunities.

• 00:00:00 In this section, Saurabh Kanekar discusses his thoughts on the impact of AI and machine learning in various domains such as healthcare and creative fields such as generating images, text or videos just by providing simple descriptions. He also shares his experience developing an AI system for his local Konkani language, which is considered a low resource language. The biggest challenge he faced was the lack of digitized data sets for the language, but he believes that developing such technology will greatly benefit the Konkani community and inspire more research. He encourages the preservation and propagation of such local identities through the use of technology.
• 00:05:00 In this section, Saurabh Kanekar discusses the challenges he faced in training his machine learning model due to the lack of digitized data available for the Konkani language. He highlights the importance of building high-quality datasets for different tasks in AI and suggests that the Art and Culture Department, along with the Konkani Department, collaboratively work towards preserving the Konkani language by building such datasets. He further explains that having access to more data would allow for the development of better solutions, such as a translation system that could benefit tourists who visit Goa.
• 00:10:00 In this section, Saurabh Kanekar discusses the potential impact of AI technologies on various government departments. He suggests creating pilot projects to apply AI in areas such as speech-to-text translation for video subtitles, and using Transformer-based optical character recognition for digitizing physical documents and applying NLP models for quick retrieval of information. He also proposes using AI in the CCTV infrastructure to detect violations and crimes in real time, Potholes Identification, traffic violation detection, AI assisted traffic signaling. Kanekar believes that Goa has the potential to become an AI hub, and just like smart city projects the pilot AI projects could be scaled and automated to benefit all.
• 00:15:00 In this section, Saurabh Kanekar advises aspiring entrepreneurs to make use of incubation centers and pitch their ideas to the government in order to gain real-world experience and develop their skills. He also suggests that even if one is not currently employed, they should utilize available resources, such as funds and incubation centers, to work towards their goals and gain rich experience in the process. According to Kanekar, this experience can be highly valuable when pursuing opportunities in the industry.

Credits:
Thank you, Melroy, for capturing the video content in timestamped text.