Meta's Chief AI Scientist Dr Yann LeCun, highlighted India's crucial position in the AI landscape during a panel discussion at IIT Delhi on Thursday. Speaking at the event titled "From Neural Mimics to Smart Assistants - A Journey into AI's Next Frontiers," Dr Yann outlined his vision for future AI development, emphasizing the need for redesigning AI architectures and advocating for open-source models.
Commenting on India's unique role, Dr Yann underscored the importance of its vast population and rich cultural diversity, noting that these elements make the country a strong contributor to the global AI framework. "The training of the big models is to be distributed. India has an important part to play in this because of the size of the population, the diversity of cultures, and value systems," he said.
In his address, Dr Yann LeCun called for a shift from current AI models, challenging the dominance of large language models (LLMs) and advocating for new AI architectures that can more closely approach human-like intelligence. He emphasised the need for transformative solutions, suggesting that existing models lack the complexity needed to replicate human cognitive processes.
He also addressed concerns over AI safety, asserting that AI's role is not to replace human decision-making but to act as a powerful aid. Envisioning a future where digital assistants are embedded in everyday life, he remarked, "The future of AI, in my opinion, is a future in which everyone will be walking around with an assistant digitally, like smart glasses... It'll be like walking around with three smart people working for you."
IIT Delhi's Director, Professor Rangan Banerjee, highlighted the institute's ongoing research into the human-AI interface and shared the recent establishment of the Centre for Healthcare, a collaborative venture between IIT Delhi, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and the Government of India. The center aims to bring innovative AI solutions to healthcare challenges across India.