India must become an AI creator, not just a user: Delhi CM Rekha Gupta

India must transform itself into a creator of artificial intelligence rather than remain merely a consumer of the technology, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday. She was speaking as the chief guest at the 41st convocation of VIT University, Vellore, presided over by VIT Chancellor G. Viswanathan. Gupta conferred degree certificates on graduating students during the ceremony. Addressing the gathering, Gupta said many pressing challenges facing society could be addressed when governments and graduates work together. Citing Delhi’s experience, she said the city had found solutions to challenges such as pollution, traffic congestion and waste management by partnering with institutions such as the IITs. She urged graduating students to take up similar roles after entering the workforce and contribute to solving challenges in their cities while driving innovation for the country. “Don’t just be users of artificial intelligence — build India’s own AI,” she said, referring to investments being made by the Union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the IndiaAI Mission in areas including semiconductors, computing infrastructure, defence, space, drones, robotics and biotechnology. The objective, she said, was to enable India to move beyond consuming AI technologies and emerge as a producer of them, describing this transition as one of the most significant contributions graduates could make to their states and the country. Gupta also spoke about resilience, urging students not to fear failure or allow it to cause undue stress. Instead, she asked them to identify the reasons for failure, understand them and work to overcome the challenges with determination rather than abandoning their goals. Hard work, she said, remained the most important path to success. While a nation’s products and physical assets contribute to its growth, she said its most valuable resource was intellectual capital, represented by its educated and skilled youth. Gupta said India’s development vision should be built around the principles of “Make in India”, “Invest in India”, “Design in India” and “Brand in India”. While the world had already recognised the talent of Indian engineers, she said India must now demonstrate the strength of its own technology. In his address, VIT Chancellor G. Viswanathan said India’s Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education stood at around 30 per cent, while the National Education Policy aims to raise it to 50 per cent. India, he said, needed to compete with other Asian countries on higher education access, citing enrolment ratios of around 90 per cent in South Korea, 60 per cent in Japan, more than 60 per cent in China, 40 per cent in Malaysia and 45 per cent in Thailand. Viswanathan said India had around 1,400 universities, 54,000 colleges and 16,000 standalone educational institutions, with around 4.5 crore students currently enrolled in higher education. Ensuring access to higher education for students from poor and middle-class families, he said, was a shared responsibility of the state and central governments.