Stressing on the need to promote use of Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) to achieve greatest efficiency, Minister for Power Development, Sunil Kumar Sharma today said that their optimal use can positively help in the development of the society and economy .The Minister was speaking at a seminar on the theme “Enabling the positive use of Artificial Intelligence for All” organized by Institute of Engineering Jammu Local Centre, today to celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.General Manager,(EB&Marketing) BSNL Kulbhushan Sharma, FIE Chairman IEI Jammu Centre Ravi Chanyal, Honorary Secretary Vijay Sharma, a large number of senior engineers, officers from BSNL and other departments were also present on the occasion. Sunil Sharma said that main objective of the day is to generate global awareness of societal changes brought about by the Internet and new age technologies.“ Since a long time now Information Communication Technology (ICT) plays a catalytic role in creating opportunities for people in every walk of life”, the Minister noted.He said that this year’s theme “Enabling the positive use of Artificial Intelligence for All” is vital as in recent years there has been significant progress in AI technology, made possible by tremendous advances in contributing fields, such as Big Data, machine learning, computing power, storage capacity and cloud computing, among others.
He said that IT is an important tool to bring about the desired socio economic transformation and achieve the developmental goals adding that it is important that stakeholders are sensitized about its proper use and application.The Minister informed that IT enabled initiatives are being introduced in various government departments for enforcing greater transparency and accountability in the system.The Minister said that Artificial Intelligence would be implemented in Power sector for fault detection and diagnosis, to improve grid stability, besides energy consumption optimization. ”The application helps in recognizing faults for its early detection so that correct mitigation measures could be taken”, the Minister further stated.He said that AI-based technologies are already emerging as a key component of proactive tools and applications being used to help people lead better lives by improving healthcare, education, finance, agriculture, transportation, and a wide range of other services thus focusing on the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to accelerate in the country.Speaking on the occasion, Kulbhushan Sharma said that there are countless applications of artificial intelligence in every walk of life and AI is going to be a major aspect in transforming Jammu into a smart city.Six technical papers on the theme were presented by engineers S.C Thukral, B.L Rawal, Vinod Kumar, Sunil Seth, Sachin Tickoo and Mir Muneer on the occasion.