HYDERABAD: Did Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) avert a repeat of last year’s heat wave tragedy? Telangana’s IT Secretary Jayesh Rajan attributed few deaths this year to an SMS alerts service the state launched this summer.
Speaking at a day-long symposium on AI at International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) here on Saturday, Mr. Ranjan said the state used weather data to identify around 200 micro-climate zones to forecasts which places would be hit by heat wave in a timeframe of 15 days. Up on identifying such zones, the citizens, hospitals and others organizations that can help citizens were provided heat wave alerts, which in turn helped lower the number of deaths, he said.
“Last year, the state witnessed 441 deaths due to heat wave. This year that number is 103. We hope it will touch zero in the coming years,” Mr. Ranjan said. Mr. Ranjan also informed the gathering about Telangana’s mission to provide broadband to every household. The state will also launch a new service for farmers through a dedicated device, to help with better farming practises, he added.
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The symposium saw experts discuss AI for Smart Cities. Turing award winner Prof. Raj Reddy, Chairman of the institute, urged researchers to develop systems, mainly speech-based, to cater to the needs of the low-income groups to help raise living standards in the society.
TCS Chief Technology Officer, K. Ananth Krishnan showed how power, transportation, health and even agriculture can benefit from AI. He said the benefits may not be visible to the end user but would greatly impact economy.
Prof. Mark. S. Fox from University of Toronto in his keynote speech discussed what intelligence systems could do for developing Smart Cities in India. He emphasized understanding cities in better ways, suggesting that cities are not isolated modules but comprise smaller interdependent entities which should dictate development of AI systems, he said, providing an instance of AI systems being used in developed systems to determine contamination of utilities like sewerage.
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-EOM