India's Tata looks to AI to help Asia tackle elderly care, climate change, skills training

India's largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is aiming to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to help Asian nations become more inclusive by bringing within easy reach services such as elderly care, a senior company executive said.

The programmes would resemble India Stack, a digital platform that runs across the country of 1.4 billion people through government-backed application programme interfaces, where third parties can provide a range of services.

"TCS has had conversations with a number of Southeast Asian countries for implementing Indian 'Stack-like' solutions," said Anantha Sekar, the company's Artificial Intelligence Lead based in London.

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Southeast Asia has a combined population of over 660 million, with many rural and isolated areas, including lots of islands. Many residents have no easy access to public services.

But more developed places can also benefit from AI. In city state Singapore, for example, where the digital infrastructure is well established, AI-based services may be beneficial in terms of helping citizens train to do new activities, said Sekar. "We are working with Singapore on a number of things. There is a digital accelerator we set up there which works a lot with skills development."

Sekar added that the AI work focuses on showcasing a slew of project possibilities and said Malaysia and Thailand are also interested in using the new technology.

In its simplest form, AI combines computer science and robust data sets to enable problem-solving. It is concerned with building smart machines capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence.

Over the years, AI has gone through many cycles of hype, but last year's release of the United State's OpenAI's ChatGPT - a natural language processing tool that allows you to have humanlike conversations - seems to mark a turning point.

Overall, Asia is ripe for such opportunities because of its diverse landscape, big population and multiple languages, Sekar said.

One of the earliest uses could be for those with disabilities who cannot access a computer or online services in conventional ways.

If people are visually impaired or have speech or hearing difficulties "the technology can translate through tools like speech recognition", said Sekar.

It can also be used to help care for some elderly people and monitor some of their needs remotely, rather than them being under constant physical supervision. For example, the dilation of pupils can be monitored remotely with AI, which could highlight an eye injury, head injury, tumour or stroke.

Data from voice prints can also be crunched to detect when someone may have suffered a fall, Sekar added. "Essentially today the family or care worker can connect with an elderly person instantly."

From India to Singapore and other countries in South and Southeast Asia, "what you find is that these kinds of solutions are being adapted and whole businesses are being launched in elderly care and education", with the technology helping to teach and train people in remote areas through online programmes.

But the robustness with which such services are rolled out depends on each nation and what services they want to prioritise through AI.

"A lot of it [AI] works better if the government has its focus and strategies clear, usually in the form of a national strategy. There are only 45 to 50 countries which have such a national strategy," Sekar added.

However, Asia could well be poised to take the lead.

The region is home to half of the world's internet users and business leaders in the adoption of various digital and mobile technologies. Nearly two-thirds of Asia's population are already online through either fixed or mobile networks.

"We estimate Asia adopts new technologies eight to 12 years ahead of the West, making it much like a time machine to the future," said a report by global bank Citi on Thursday.

Over half the population of the region will be middle class or rich by 2024, said the think tank Brookings in the Citi report, citing World Data Lab projections.

That affluence is expected to further drive demand for goods and services.

Asia also accounts for 40 per cent of global 'unicorns' - tech start-ups with valuations of US$1 billion - 56 per cent of the world's small and medium-sized enterprises, and 68 per cent of global patent applications, according to Citi.

Asia's rapid adoption of technology has been propelled by underdeveloped infrastructure - in retail, banking, healthcare and other areas - that is driving demand for digital solutions, the report said.

Sekar said that in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, digital technology was used to help with the visual inspection of toilets as part of a nationwide government campaign to improve sanitation and waste management.

"Today, technology allows you to take a photograph [remotely]. And you can implement AI to detect where there is a problem and intervene to take remedial action," Sekar said.

Asia is home to 1.1 billion people in the 15-29 age group, who tend to be most adept at using mobile and digital technologies, Citi said.

Another big use of AI in Asia could be in fighting climate change, including reaching far-flung areas that are not easily accessible. It could be used to help inspect forests, traffic conditions and air pollution via cameras that collect then send on data.

Such applications can be multilingual and would ease burdens on inspection staff and allow more information to be gathered, retained and analysed.

Assessments can be posted on multiple channels such as the internet, intranet and mobile phones that would increase awareness among citizens, Sekar said.

They can ask ChatGPT where their country is in terms of sustainable goals, making them more aware and therefore more empowered "to drive what happens" at government level, he said.

He did not elaborate on how verification would be done so residents can trust the data, but said that despite the technology's potential to transform societies, one of the biggest challenges will be ensuring there are policies and rules to make sure AI is used ethically.

While the European Union proposes heavy regulation through the Artificial Intelligence Act that resembles the General Data Protection Regulation - considered one of the toughest privacy and security laws - others like India and Britain appear to be leaning towards a lighter touch favouring self-regulation and audits.

Sekar said AI's capability to bring a high degree of personalisation to services would likely mean that the adoption of the technology would be much faster than previous disruptive technology, such as smartphones and social media.

"I would say the weaker sections of society would greatly benefit from the kind of inclusivity and experience that AI can bring about if it is done right," he added.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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