INDIA's information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, and actor Anil Kapoor are among the Indians named in Time magazine's 2024 list of the 100 "Most Influential People in AI".
The list, released on Thursday, highlights 15 individuals of Indian origin, including Sundar Pichai of Google and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
The magazine noted Vaishnaw’s role in leading India’s efforts to become one of the top five countries in semiconductor manufacturing, a crucial element for modern AI systems, within the next five years.
"Yet, Vaishnaw faces significant challenges in realising these ambitions. India's tech sector struggles with low private R&D investment and a lack of advanced manufacturing ecosystems. Its educational system is also catching up to produce the specialised workforce needed for cutting-edge AI and semiconductor development," the magazine stated.
India, the world’s fifth-largest economy, is positioning itself as a significant player in AI, the magazine added.
Kapoor, aged 67, made the list following a landmark legal victory in September 2023 against the unauthorised AI use of his likeness. He took legal action after several distorted videos, GIFs, and emojis of his likeness appeared online without permission.
Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and EkStep, was also featured on the list. The magazine described Nilekani as "India’s Bill Gates" and highlighted his work on digital public infrastructure in India.
"Nilekani led India's Aadhaar programme, the world's largest biometric identity card programme. He promoted the programme as a solution to welfare fraud and a tool to improve tax collection and simplify bank customer verification," Time wrote.
TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs said that while AI innovation in 2023 was driven by startup labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, 2024 has seen the influence of a few major tech companies.
The 2024 TIME100 AI list includes prominent figures such as Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, Sundar Pichai of Google, and Satya Nadella of Microsoft.
Women leaders like Amba Kak, co-executive director of AI Now Institute, Arati Prabhakar, director of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Divya Siddarth, co-founder of Collective Intelligence Project, were also highlighted in the list.
Other Indians and Indian-origin leaders in AI who made the list include Rohit Prasad, SVP and head scientist of Artificial General Intelligence at Amazon, Shiv Rao, co-founder and CEO of Abridge, Anant Vijay Singh, product lead at Proton, Dwarkesh Patel, host of the Dwarkesh Podcast, Amandeep Singh Gill, UN secretary-general's envoy on technology, and Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures.
(With inputs from PTI)
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session. (Photo: Hertfordshire Police /Handout via REUTERS)
Man pleads not guilty to murder of BBC presenter's family
A 26-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering the wife and two daughters of BBC sports commentator John Hunt in a crossbow and knife attack.
Kyle Clifford, who also faces charges of rape, appeared via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.
Clifford, arrested in July after a manhunt, is charged with three counts of murder, one count each of rape and false imprisonment, and two counts of possessing offensive weapons – a 10-inch knife and a crossbow.
During the hearing, Clifford denied all the charges except for the rape charge, which was added to the indictment at the session.
He is expected to enter a plea for that charge at a later date.
The victims were Carol Hunt, 61, wife of horseracing commentator John Hunt, and their daughters Louise, 25, and Hannah, 28.
An earlier hearing revealed that Louise had been found tied up and that both she and her sister had been shot with a crossbow, while their mother had been stabbed with a knife.
The fatal attack occurred at the family’s home in Bushey, a commuter town near Watford, northwest of London.
(With inputs from AFP)