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AI Must Deliver Real-World Impact Beyond Hype, Says IT Secretary Krishnan

Union IT Secretary S. Krishnan stated that for AI to succeed beyond the hype, it must deliver tangible solutions that improve lives. He highlighted the India AI Mission's focus on providing compute and data to build impactful applications across sectors like healthcare and agriculture. The session emphasized the need for responsible scaling, privacy protection, and ensuring public money creates measurable outcomes. Experts like Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal and Michael Kremer underscored the importance of rigorous evaluation and shared early evidence of AI's positive impact in areas like education and traffic enforcement.

Key Points: AI Must Improve Lives to Succeed, Says IT Secretary S. Krishnan

  • AI success depends on improving lives
  • Focus on healthcare, agriculture, education
  • Must scale responsibly and protect privacy
  • Rigorous evaluation needed for impact
2 min read

AI must succeed beyond hype to deliver solutions that improve lives: IT Secretary S. Krishnan

At India AI Summit, IT Secretary S. Krishnan emphasized AI's success hinges on real-world applications in healthcare, agriculture, and governance.

"We are providing compute, models, and data for one reason only, to build applications with real impact. - S. Krishnan"

New Delhi, Feb 17

Union Electronics and Information Technology Secretary, S. Krishnan, said on Tuesday that whether artificial intelligence succeeds beyond the hype depends entirely on whether it delivers solutions that improve lives.

Addressing the session titled "From Algorithms to Outcomes: Building AI that Works for People" on the second day of the 'India AI Impact Summit 2026' here, Krishnan said the India AI Mission is modelled to address diverse needs and real-world challenges.

"We are providing compute, models, and data for one reason only, to build applications with real impact. If you walk through the expo, you'll see hundreds of startups working across healthcare, agriculture, education, and manufacturing. That's where impact will come from," he told the gathering.

He also said that the governments will never have enough teachers, doctors, or judges, "but if AI can enhance productivity, service quality can improve dramatically."

"The challenge is to choose what works, scale it responsibly, protect privacy, and ensure public money creates measurable outcomes," Union Electronics and Information Technology Secretary added.

The high-impact session examined the dual imperatives of people-centric AI and sovereign technological capability.

It focused on ensuring that artificial intelligence systems translate into measurable improvements in public service delivery and citizen welfare.

According to the official statement, the discussion centred on how compute, models and data must ultimately lead to deployable applications that enhance productivity, strengthen governance and deliver tangible benefits to citizens.

Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal, Global Executive Director of The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), underscored the importance of rigorous evaluation, saying that "If you've spent enough time in development, you've seen many silver bullets come and go".

Michael Kremer, J-PAL, University Professor in Economics at University of Chicago, added, "We're seeing early evidence of impact in areas like traffic enforcement, automated driver's licence testing, health, and education, including personalised adaptive learning that doubled the pace of student learning with just one hour a week".

- IANS

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Reader Comments

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Arjun K
The point about not having enough teachers and doctors is so real. If AI can help a single teacher in a remote school manage different learning levels, it would be revolutionary. But the "responsible scaling" part is crucial—we've seen tech cause harm when rushed.
R
Rohit P
Good to see the emphasis on measurable outcomes. Too many government tech projects become white elephants. Public money must show results. AI for traffic management in our chaotic cities is a perfect test case—let's see it implemented on the ground.
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Sarah B
As someone working in ed-tech, the personalized learning evidence is exciting. Doubling learning pace is huge for a country with our scale. The challenge will be ensuring the AI doesn't just benefit elite urban private schools but reaches government schools in villages.
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Karthik V
Respectfully, while the intent is good, I'm skeptical. "Sovereign capability" and "real impact" are great slogans, but the proof is in the pudding. We need less summit talk and more demonstrable, scalable projects that common people can use and trust. Protect privacy first.
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Meera T
The focus on healthcare and agriculture gives me hope. Imagine an AI tool that helps a small farmer in Punjab or Maharashtra get the right advice on water and fertilizer. That's the kind of Bharat-centric innovation we need, not just copying Western models. Jai Hind!

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