Exploring AI prospect

The dichotomy between the prospect of artificial intelligence (AI) and human resources could not be sharper anywhere save Bangladesh. Given the option for going whole hog for exploring AI prospect, should the country take the chance? Or, can the country afford the luxury of promoting AI at any cost to the neglect of its huge army of unemployed population? The dilemma is quite clear: overemphasis on either the AI or unemployment of the people for its curtailment makes no sense. New technologies have always catapulted nations from one stage to the next big stage. So the question about adoption of AI is, how much is too much? That AI has come to transform means of production, supply and distribution is a reality. It is true that the country is yet to be prepared for wide application of AI. If it does not ready its infrastructure, manpower skills through educational reform and domestic digital capacity, it is sure to fall behind other nations including its neighbours.

The views thus expressed by local experts in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) corroborate the contention of the World Bank report on 'Jobs, AI, and Trade in South Asia'. One area that hardly receives attention from the policy makers as also from deliberations on development at seminars and workshops is local innovation. Happily, experts this time have made home-grown innovation a salient point. What happens usually is that technologies innovated abroad get transferred to countries poor and lacking in research and development a decade later. In the digital era, any such gap in technical and technological knowledge and skills can be disastrous. Appropriate policies, strategies and digital environment can not only bridge the skill and innovation gap but also turn the sector into the number one foreign exchange earner. There is no dearth of tech-savvies in this country. The only problem is with the right environment for them to work and give their best.

So the important point is not only to invest in education, infrastructure development and enhancement of digital capacity --- where power supply is not disrupted, internet connection and speed are undisturbed---but also develop digital skills of mid-ranking employees who can maintain connection between lower ranked ones and the top grade computer geeks. But preparing such a collaborative digital regime will call for educational reform. This cannot be done overnight. Time is crucial here. There is no scope for taking too long a time to strike a balance between the urgency and obtaining reality.

When education is considered a subject of repeated experiments and no pragmatic solution to the problem is in sight, the objective of streamlining education in alignment with the digital need recedes in the distant horizon. This interim government has sidestepped from making education the right tool. If the next elected government urgently highlights this aspect of alignment between education and digital innovation, the country still have a chance to make the transformation happen. To do so, the overriding priority has to be recognised first and strategically accomplish the job under a comprehensive plan. The country's readiness to embrace digital wonders has to be completed as soon as possible in order to reap dividends from the 4th industrial revolution.