Exclusive Interview with Dr. Debashis Guha, Director, MAIB, and Chair, CRTIB at SP Jain School of Global Management

Artificial intelligence perceived as the second coming of technology has more to offer than what appears on the surface. Tech-savvy businesses are slowly warming up to this idea and discovering the wider application window which AI and the associated technologies offer. However, with a shortage of expertise, most companies find themselves lagging in the seamless adoption of AI. SP Jain School of Global Management offers a 2-year full-time interdisciplinary program in artificial intelligence that also trains the students in applying AI to the real-world economy and business problems. Analytics Insight has engaged in an exclusive interview with Dr. Debashis Guha, Director, MAIB, and Chair, CRTIB at SP Jain School of Global Management.

1. Kindly brief us about your role at SP Jain Global and your journey in this highly promising sector.

I am the Founding Director of the Master of Artificial Intelligence In Business (MAIB) postgraduate degree program at SP Jain Global, which combines a full range of AI topics with business subjects and applications.  I also Chair S P Jain's Centre for Research on Technology In Business (CRTIB) which focuses on the interaction of advanced technology and business.

2. Can you throw light on the latest employment trends in the big data and analytics industry?

One of the major trends in data science is the growth of jobs that requires an understanding of both the business logic of a problem and its technical details. Another major trend is the growth of software engineering jobs that focus on agile methods and end-to-end development. A third trend is a growth in data engineering jobs that focus on building efficient data ingestion and processing pipelines. A final trend is the growth of jobs that explore the transparency and fairness in AI models, as concerns grow that AI may behave in unethical ways and reproduce and even amplify biases and injustices prevalent in society.

3. What are some of the challenges faced by the industry today?

As Daren Acemoglu of MIT has argued, AI is at a juncture today where it can attempt to fully automate jobs and replace human workers, or it can attempt to assist people in doing their work and improve their productivity. The first road is likely to lead to social conflict and eventual economic failure, while the second path is likely to lead to higher productivity and prosperity.

Another major challenge is the issue of ethics and algorithmic bias. Several AI systems in practical use in the fields of finance, recruitment, law enforcement, and others have been found to demonstrate racial and gender bias that reflects existing social biases and prejudice. The effort to eliminate such biases and the development of AI models that are truly fair, unbiased, and transparent has become a major industry concern.

4. What would you advise aspiring big data and analytics candidates?

Every data scientist should be an expert coder, not only because it is an essential skill, but also because it is excellent training for developing vital logical and analytical skills. Data scientists also need to understand the software development process in more detail as the discipline of data science matures and gets more integrated into existing paradigms of software development.

A final requirement is a need for formal training as we leave behind the days of the self-taught data scientist and formal training in areas like data engineering, dev-ops, and machine learning becomes a requirement for entry into the workforce.

5.What is the edge SP Jain Global has over other institutes in the industry?

S P Jain Global is a leading business school that also has a top-notch data science and AI faculty. This allows us to define, in a unique way, the educational and research landscape that lies at the intersection of advanced technology and business.

6. How is SP Jain Global contributing to the growth and transformation of analytics and big data education?

S P Jain Global is contributing to learning and research in the fields of data science and artificial intelligence at all levels. It has an undergraduate program entitled Bachelor of Data Science (BDS) that is rated No. 1 in India and BDS graduates have gone on to receive excellent placement outcomes and higher education in India and abroad. S P Jain Global has recently initiated a Master's Program in AI, that combines rigorous training in AI technology with management education in a unique way. S P Jain Global also has a doctoral program and many of our doctoral scholars are studying data science, artificial intelligence applications and their impact on businesses and society.

S P Jain Global's faculty researchers are carrying out research in AI, data science, and the digital transformation of society, the economy, and business. It has recently established a center of excellence called the Centre for Research on Technology In Business (CRTIB) whose mission is to research and disseminate knowledge at the interface of technology and business.

7. The industry is seeing the rising importance of Big Data Analytics and AI. How do you see these emerging technologies impacting the business sector?

Data Science and AI are already indispensable needs of every industry and businesses across all sectors and all sizes now understand the importance of data-driven decision making, predictive analytics, automation, and AI-enabled work processes.

We are now going through a phase of thorough integration of these technologies into the business. This integration will have three aspects. First, the data science teams are going to become formally organized departments and branches, rather than the ad hoc projects that they were earlier. Second, the process of developing data science models is going to be formalized using software and data engineering tools. And third, work processes that are data and AI-enabled will be built to integrate human workers and machine workers.

Another major development that is going to assume more and more importance is the effort to manage the impact of these technologies on all stakeholders, especially the workers and the clients. The issue of whether automation replaces or empowers human production in a factory or an artisanal setting is becoming very important. Another major challenge businesses face is to ensure that these technologies are fair, unbiased, and transparent.

8. If robots completely replace the need for manual processing, what will happen to the future of the workforce?

The future of work in a more automated world is a vast subject and can hardly be explained in a few lines. The short answer, as indicated above is that we can go two ways in AI and robot development: AI as a replacement and AI as an enhancement. If AI is used as a cheap replacement for human labor, the result will be slow growth of productivity and a lot of social strife. If AI is used mainly as a complement for and an enhancement of human capabilities, the result can be a much higher growth of productivity and quality and a more harmonious society.

9. Can you throw light on the latest employment trends in key sectors?

In all major sectors, employment will shift to jobs requiring more human-machine interaction and more joint human-machine work processes that require going beyond narrow technological skills.