AI appreciation Day: 4 ways AI will transform in creating equal learning and employment opportunities in India
By Raghav Gupta, Managing Director, India and APAC, Coursera
At the recent Global INDIAai Summit 2024, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a very big tool to solve many of the problems we face. There is already evidence of this potential in sectors like education. Generative AI’s (GenAI) revolutionary capabilities are unlocking new ways to democratize access to a quality education and future jobs, solving challenges at the scale India needs.
This AI Appreciation Day, here are 4 areas where AI can level the playing field for learning and work, to shape an inclusive future.
#1: Access to learn with the world
Advances in Machine Learning (ML) have greatly reduced the cost and time needed to translate course material — from lakhs of rupees and months to translate a course, it now costs less than Rs 5,000 and can be done in a few days with ML. Language barriers have previously held back learners looking to develop new skills and enter new fields. With AI-translated content, even a student or worker not completely proficient in English, can accessibly build skills online for digital jobs. Learners in India are already using this to their advantage. Of the 4,400 courses translated in Hindi on Coursera, enrollments are the highest for digital courses in Hindi like AI for Everyone, HTML, CSS, and Javascript for Web Developers and Python for Data Science, AI & Development.
This breakthrough comes at an opportune moment. Internet penetration is growing rapidly in rural India. More Indians students are learning affordably on mobile, with the latest ASER survey showing close to 90% of Indian youth have a smartphone at home, and two thirds use it for their studies. As the digital divide narrows, AI can catalyze new opportunities to scale high-quality, relevant learning for all Indians.
#2: The next frontier of personalized and interactive learning
Private tutors have always been the privilege of a few till now. But soon, every Indian student could have their own GenAI personal coach. Just like a real-world tutor, an AI coach could offer customized study tips, explain a concept the evening before an exam, and even teach a module in a student’s native language. GenAI can make personalized coaching accessible and economical at scale, without time or location constraints. Such individualized learning would help improve learning outcomes for learners in different contexts — from helping those falling behind academically, to supporting learners in backward regions. Students are already seeing benefits from personalized learning with GenAI. Indian students surveyed said it had reduced the cost of extra tutoring (44%) and helped them overcome their learning differences (39%).
GenAI’s conversational abilities also can be utilized for a range of applications — as a debate opponent, for example, who generates counter arguments while a student fine-tunes their own point of view. According to UNESCO, GenAI can be beneficially used to facilitate inquiry or project-based learning, playing a role similar to a research advisor who guides a student.
#3: Classroom aid: How AI can augment teaching
University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman Prof. M. Jagadesh Kumar recently called out faculty shortages in higher education as a major challenge to implement the National Education Policy. AI could support and free-up teachers — especially when they are short-staffed — to save time, while steering effective student outcomes.
GenAI can be used to scale practice assessments tailored to each learner’s needs, or generate multiple question paper variants for robust testing that deters cheating. AI-Assisted Grading could streamline grading by suggesting scores and feedback, while leaving the final decision to the teacher.
With GenAI, faculty can auto-generate an entire course — going from course structure to assignments — in just a few hours. Instructors would be able to easily produce a privately-authored course that blends high-quality content from experts externally, with their own internal content. For multilingual classes, GenAI can craft personalized, step-by-step instructions for every student — a capability that can be useful given India’s linguistic diversity.
#4: Future-ready workforce
India has the highest enrollments on Coursera for GenAI courses, ahead of the US. Enrollments have quadrupled from 2023 to 2024, with someone in India enrolling in GenAI content every minute of the day. Skyrocketing enrollments for courses like Introduction to Generative AI by Google Cloud and Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT by Vanderbilt University have followed the rise in demand for AI skills. Microsoft-LinkedIn research found 80% of Indian leaders are even willing to hire a less experienced candidate, if they have AI skills.
GenAI will not take over jobs. But workers who are not using AI might be replaced by those who do. High GenAI enrollments from Indian enterprise learners signal that even those employed are upskilling to remain relevant in their jobs and the market at large. Every graduating student will need to know how to use GenAI as a thought partner and to augment their work, to become employable and productive in their very first job.
Online learning can be a powerful tool for promoting equal access to in-demand AI skills, with public and private institutions playing a key role in powering mass AI skilling, and reskilling programs. Democratizing access to AI skills, in line with the government’s “AI for All’ vision, can connect more Indians to booming AI jobs in India, and remote AI roles globally. This will meaningfully help realize India’s demographic dividend.
The AI revolution can create more equal opportunity for all Indians. Harnessing its potential in education, especially to narrow the opportunity gap, will ensure equitable outcomes in an AI world.
