SAPI to organise a series of webinars on the role of AI in Defence

New Delhi: Security and Policy Initiatives (SAPI) is going to organise a series of informative and educative webinars aimed at demystifying Artificial intelligence (AI). The first webinar in this series is going to be held on April 23, Saturday. The theme of the webinar is 'AI  a force multiplier in Defence'. World-renowned cryptologist Padma Shri Professor Bimal Roy, Chairman National Statistical Commission will be the Chief Guest and Col Samarendra Mohan Kumar Co-founder and CEO of Mitkat Advisory will be the keynote speaker.

SAPI is a defence and technology think tank based out of New Delhi.

In the webinar, the CEOs of successful AI startups will also share their stories and hands-on experiences with applications of AI along with expectations from policymakers. The event is to be attended by AI start-up CEOs, Practitioners, Technocrats, Researchers, and bureaucrats among others.

"lots of misconceptions and myths surround the subject. On the one end of the spectrum are cynics calling AI a monster, a terminator in making; and on the other, calling it 'next to god", SAPI's founder Pradeep Gupta, said speaking to Defence Watch. "In between there are multitudes of people and organisations who would want to know more and more since need clarity, direction and expert advice when it comes to the actual application of AI in their world – life or work-life", he added.

It is with this in view and keeping in with the objectives of SAPI to bring together the academia and industry and active citizens for the production of actionable knowledge, that the webinars have been organised, Gupta said.

Elaborating upon the context in ongoing Ukraine and Russia war, Gupta said that the war has shown to the world that long-lasting physical combat war is very much a reality in this century. And the application of AI is going to be integral to the defence preparedness of the countries. The United States, China, Russia, Israel etc. are already quite ahead in the race of deploying cutting-edge technologies including AI and ML-based military technology to augment their defence capabilities. China, of course, is leagues ahead with its long-standing focus on 'informatised' and 'intelligentised' warfare.

"I Hope SAPI, the 'think factory' churns out a few concrete actionable ideas for Indian policymakers", he concluded. Gupta is a former seasoned technocrat and a long and close aide of the Late President of India Pranab Mukharjee.

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