India has a chance to gain the edge

While the buzz around generative AI continues to grow, the real money-spinner for AI will be autonomous devices, predicts Netrasemi CEO Jyothis Indirabhai Sivasankarapillai, who has been in the field of chip design for three decades.

“Gen AI has a remarkable impact, especially when it comes to pictures, text, and videos. But that is just one sector. The impact on industries will be the real goldmine as it will boost the trillion-dollar Internet of Things (IoT) sector,” said the startup founder, who began his design career in Japan as a consultant for Hitachi Engineering at the age of 23. He later spent a decade working with Intel as a design manager.

Speaking during an interaction organised by MuLearn in Trivandrum, Jyothis said the convergence of AI and IoT is going to change the way we interact with electronic equipment.

Instead of sending data to a server or cloud facility for analysis, the gadgets will analyse data on device and make nuanced inferences using AI. This is termed edge computing.

“This is a new market and opens up the possibility of many new innovative products,” said Jyothis.

He also warned that if India does not seize the opportunity quickly, it will be yet another addition to the long list of missed chances the country has accumulated over the decades.

Indian AI Chips

Jyothis himself is inspiring other domestic companies by releasing products aimed at tapping the global market. Netrasemi recently announced that it will be launching two cost-effective and power-efficient advanced AI chipsets for edge AI use cases, a first for India.

This Trivandrum-based startup, co-founded by Jyothis, Sreejith Varma, and Deepa Geetha, was offered support worth over 40 crore rupees by the central government under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme. These included grants under Chips to Startup scheme, reimbursements and essential tools.

The company has rewarded that faith by becoming the first Indian firm to enter the global market for AI chips. Netrasemi’s chips are designed for use in sectors like surveillance and robotics.

The 12-nanometer node chips are fabricated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and will hit production by 2025, according to an Analytical India report.

Jyothis says Indian companies can compete globally if they act smartly. The government also needs to play a constructive role in encouraging an ecosystem that facilitates innovation, rather than solely catering to the service sector.

He notes that global industry analysts, like McKinsey, predicted IoT as one of the most disruptive technologies a decade ago, but Indian companies failed to secure a share of that market.

“Our focus was on the service sector, and we thrived in it. It brought us significant economic benefits and generated millions of jobs.”

“It was a significant contribution by Indian IT engineers to global trade. They played a crucial role in the development of chips, software systems, and products. But in the end, the products belonged to other countries.”

Low Hanging fruits

He said the Indian IT sector should do some soul-searching to understand why the country has failed to develop a product that is a world-beater.

“Product makers should start discussing their ideas with people involved at different levels of their supply chains, starting from chip factories. That is how countries like China develop products that perform well and maintain competitive prices.”

India should have pursued low-hanging fruits in the electronics sector and tackled them with innovative ideas. However, that was not given priority, and now the country pays billions every year to import electronic components from countries like China.

History repeated itself when the IoT sector opened up around 2010. Within a decade, it had become a trillion-dollar industry as IoT was extensively used by gadget makers. These smart devices were discreetly collecting data and analysing it for purposes like defect detection and performance improvement.

With AI becoming the standard for data processing, it has led to the growth of AIoT (Artificial Intelligence-enabled Internet of Things). However, data processing is currently happening in the cloud, which is not desirable for sensitive sectors like defence, health, and finance.

Similarly, in sectors like autonomous cars, drones, and robotics, where even a millisecond delay can be crucial, cloud-based analysis can be risky. This is especially true when transmitting high-density data, such as videos in a compressed format, as it can affect the quality of the data.

Edge Computing

The solution to this challenge is to perform preliminary data analysis at the scene itself. Edge computing offers a distinct advantage for such sectors, as it avoids the pitfalls that may arise when relaying information to a data centre and back.

Most AI wearables that are not connected to the internet use edge computing. Such autonomous devices are already on the market, and demand is predicted to rise exponentially. This trend is being termed AuT, or Autonomous Things.

One of the problems with many wearable medical devices currently on the market is the continuous alerts they keep sending. For the end user, this can be irritating and undermines the reliability of the product. On-premises computing can overcome this drawback, as the device can make more nuanced inferences.

There are thousands of companies working on AIoT products in the medical sector, and some Kerala companies are also exploring this.

The edge computing market offers a level playing field, as the concept is a novel one and no one holds a significant advantage as of now. It is up to Indian entrepreneurs to seize this golden opportunity, says Jyothis.

He points out that along with AI-enabled hardware, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive ecosystem. The success of our country in this sector will be largely dependent on the parallel growth of the software industry for building specific applications as well availability of quality data and training. Only then we can achieve the desired targets, he says.

Kerala’s opportunity

Commenting on the demand for skilled people in the global semiconductor industry, Jyothis says Kerala has a great chance to capitalise on this opportunity.

“I have located my facility in Trivandrum because I was confident in drawing on the enormous talent pool available here. I employ around 60 people, and the majority of them are from this state.”

“I have conducted orientation courses at my alma mater, the College of Engineering, Trivandrum (CET), and have found that our youngsters are eager to learn and can be quickly moulded into valuable assets for companies.”

Echoing the opinions of many experts, Jyothis also agrees that a total revamp of the education system is urgently needed, especially in engineering. He thinks that Kerala should avoid chasing big-ticket enterprises like semiconductor fabs, as they require a commitment of thousands of crores.

Moreover, such fabs require a constant supply of highly pure water, an uninterrupted power supply without voltage fluctuations, expertise, and a supply chain that is difficult to establish.

Instead of pursuing such challenging targets, Kerala should focus on fabless facilities that require a steady supply of skilled personnel.

“This is something Kerala can achieve with a bit of effort and does not require a commitment of hundreds of crores from the government. By honing the skills of our students, we can become a key player in the Indian semiconductor sector. With a proper vision, such a programme can be established within less than two years.”

States like Kerala should also leverage the vast Indian network in the semiconductor sector in countries like the US to mentor our youngsters, says Jyothis.

“The Indian government has spent billions to establish a framework. We should use this to our advantage and turn Kerala into a fountainhead of talent that will be needed across the globe in the next five years,” says Jyothis.

Fake Musk videos cost a fortune

Elon Musk makes the headlines whenever he opens his mouth. The latest New York Times report is a bit different, though. It says deepfakes that show him purportedly talking of non-existent cryptocurrencies and investment are being used by scammers. Musk was featured in nearly a quarter of all deepfake scams since late last year and in nearly 90 percent of the videos on fake cryptocurrencies. The sheer number of such deepfake videos and spams circulating is what caught our attention. YouTube says it removed 15.7 million channels and 8.2 million videos that violated its guidelines.

Such deepfake videos made with AI are leading to losses worth billions of dollars every year as many people get conned through such videos. Other tycoons featured by scammers include Warren Buffett and Jeff Bezos. In India, also, such videos are circulating widely. Some show people like Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani. Wonder how many vulnerable people have fallen for these videos that promise huge returns on investments.

Indian gamer joins the battle

Pune-based SuperGaming has released the open beta version of its Indian-themed game Indus. It will be interesting to see how it fares, as the Indian market is dominated by big players like Microsoft and South Korea’s Krafton. SuperGaming has been working on the game for over two years and says it has garnered 12 million pre-registrations. The game is heavily inspired by Indian culture and mythology and features the Indus Valley civilisation as the backdrop of the story, reports Money Control. India is the fastest-growing games market in Asia, and revenue in the sector is expected to surpass 1 billion US dollars in 2025.

A shot in the arm for diabetics

Taking daily shots of insulin is a part of life for millions in India. Diabetics have no other choice as they need to stabilise sugar levels through synthetic insulin. However, excessive use of synthetic insulin can also lead to hypoglycaemia or low blood glucose. The Guardian says scientists have now developed a version of insulin that will remain dormant and respond to changing blood sugar levels in real-time. The smart insulin mimics the body’s natural response to fluctuating blood sugar levels and responds instantly, says the report. Experts say if this is successful, diabetics may be able to limit insulin injections to once a week.

Birds of a new feather

A couple of years ago, there was a prank campaign that circulated in the US, claiming that birds are not real but electronic surveillance machines sent out by the government. Technology is now making almost every such wild imagination a reality.The Chinese military recently showed a bird-shaped drones that imitates the flight patterns of real birds, making them nearly indistinguishable. The Interesting Engineering report also have links to videos ofthese surveillance and attack drones. Quite a turnaround for China, which at one time was killing sparrows after Mao Zedong blamed them for destroying crops.