About
Anaadi Rural AI Center envisions a future where rural communities are empowered with the latest AI technologies, and are able to leverage them to improve their quality of life, address unique challenges, and promote economic development. The center recognizes that rural communities face significant challenges in accessing technology and educational resources, and that the current development and deployment of AI technologies have largely been concentrated in urban centers. Therefore, our Rural AI Center seeks to bridge this digital divide by providing rural communities with the resources, training, and collaboration opportunities they need to effectively use AI technologies. By doing so, the center shall create a new generation of rural leaders who can harness the power of AI to drive economic growth, improve education and healthcare outcomes, support sustainable development, conservation, and cultural preservation efforts in rural areas. Moreover the rural participation in the AI movement is essential to foster a balanced and values-based positive approach to aid humanity through AI.
Benefits
Enhanced rural participation
Enhanced CS Education
Better Career Opportunities
Reduce Migration
Access to Information
Innovation
Enhanced Rural Manufacturing
Preserving Local Knowledge
Envisioned Activities
Anaadi Foundation’s Rural AI Center is a shared space with access to devices, content and training modules. The activities envisioned through this center include:
High-quality AI and Data Science based educational modules for school and college students
Value-oriented education for appropriate use of AI tools and technologies
AI and data sciences based certification programs
Providing lab space for students pursuing online courses in AI/DS related areas
Learning tutors for rural AI students
Primary and secondary data analytics skills for rural students especially social work students
Providing exposure to rural communities on various relevant AI tools in local language including insights on livelihoods like farming
Capturing local knowledge that is complex for humans to gather, store and analyze. Eg: AI powered Temple motifs , weaving patterns etc preservation and reinvigoration
Impacting rural health through data-driven approach
Host exciting AI tools for rural students to learn joyously and tinker with
Harness the large rural population to work on Indian Knowledge Systems datasets like OCR, transcriptions, translations etc that involve semi-automated tasks
Signing of MOUs with schools and colleges for skill development
People
Dr. Venkatapathy S
Director, Rural AI Center
Senior Project Research Scientist, IITB
PhD, Gran Sasso Science Institute, Italy
Shyam Krishnakumar
Consultant, Rural AI Center
Co-Founder, Pranava Institute
Titiksha Vashist
Consultant, Rural AI Center
Co-Founder, Pranava Institute
Narenthiran A
Project Staff
Advisory Board and Mentor Panel
Dr. Ganesh Ramakrishnan
Institute Chair Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay
Professor-in-Charge, Koita Centre for Digital Health, Co-PI for the National Disease Modelling Consortium (NDMC).