TL;DR:
- Wipro establishes AI center of excellence (CoE) for generative AI at IIT Delhi.
- CoE focuses on research, development, and commercial potential assessment of AI projects.
- Wipro’s financial backing to foundational and applied research projects in generative AI.
- CoE aligned with Wipro’s $1-billion ‘Wipro ai360’ initiative for AI services.
- Industry trend: Indian IT services firms ramping up investments in generative AI.
- Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys are actively pursuing PoC projects and partnerships.
- HCL Technologies partners with Microsoft for industry-specific generative AI solutions.
- Global firms like Accenture also investing in transformative generative AI projects.
- Analysts caution that generative AI efforts are still in the early stages.
- Gartner report places generative AI on the “inflated expectations” curve.
- Expected transformational benefits within 2-5 years for service providers.
Main AI News:
Wipro, a prominent player in the realm of large-cap IT services, has unveiled its pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) center of excellence (CoE) dedicated to generative AI at the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. This strategic move entails the center’s focus on both research and development (R&D) undertakings, alongside an evaluation of the business potential inherent in research-driven projects pursued by students at IIT’s Yardi School of AI. The CoE stands as a testament to Wipro’s commitment to providing financial backing for fundamental as well as applied research initiatives within the domain of generative AI at IIT Delhi.
Foundational research, which seeks to establish theoretical discoveries in a particular field, finds its counterpart in applied research, which revolves around crafting applications with the prospective viability to thrive in commercial landscapes. A collaborative announcement from Wipro and IIT Delhi has highlighted the establishment of the generative AI CoE within the larger framework of Wipro’s ambitious $1-billion initiative, ‘Wipro ai360’, aimed at constructing an all-encompassing services ecosystem centered on AI. Professor Mausam, the esteemed head of IIT Delhi’s Yardi School of AI, expressed that this innovative facility would furnish students with invaluable insights into industry-relevant issues, bridging the gap between technical expertise and real-world commercial environments.
This pivotal development emerges against the backdrop of an escalating trend within the IT services sector, where a surge in investments and experimentation characterizes the generative AI landscape across India. K. Krithivasan, the newly-appointed CEO of Tata Consultancy Services, India’s foremost IT services juggernaut, revealed that the company is actively involved in more than 50 proof-of-concept (PoC) projects and is nurturing around 100 opportunities in the field. This disclosure was made during the company’s post-earnings press conference for the June quarter.
Infosys, a leading competitor, has likewise disclosed its engagement in 80 active generative AI projects, backed by an impressive 40,000-strong workforce equipped with the necessary training to embrace forthcoming opportunities. Salil Parekh, the CEO of Infosys, conveyed this during the company’s post-earnings press conference in July. Notably, these major players have fostered robust partnerships with industry giants such as Google and Microsoft to propel the advancement of their generative AI solutions.
HCL Technologies, in a strategic maneuver, collaborated with Microsoft on June 15th to establish a dedicated generative AI CoE hosted on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. This initiative aims to cultivate “industry-specific solutions” that empower the IT service provider to curate personalized, data-driven experiences for clients, enhance decision-making processes, and catalyze business expansion.
Beyond India’s borders, global corporations have also intensified their efforts in the realm of generative AI. Julie Sweet, the CEO of prominent global IT powerhouse Accenture, revealed in June a staggering portfolio of active generative AI projects collectively valued at $100 million, spread across a diverse clientele.
Nonetheless, industry analysts have issued a note of caution, asserting that the majority of generative AI endeavors are still in their nascent stages. Companies are primarily engaged in experimental pilot implementations, with full-scale, multi-year, billion-dollar deals that drive significant revenue for India’s leading IT service providers yet to materialize. A recent Gartner report, published on Wednesday, concurred with this assessment, positioning the burgeoning generative AI sector at the summit of its “inflated expectations” curve within the ‘Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2023’. The report anticipates the sector’s transformational potential to fully manifest within the upcoming two to five years, aligning with the point when service providers are poised to harvest greater commercial gains from their preliminary initiatives, paralleling the dynamic industry-academia partnership exhibited in Wipro’s collaboration with IIT Delhi.
Conclusion:
The launch of Wipro’s generative AI CoE at IIT Delhi signals a significant step in strengthening India’s AI landscape. As major IT services firms intensify investments and collaborations in generative AI, the market is poised for growth. However, cautious optimism is necessary, as the sector is still maturing, with the transformational impact anticipated within the next few years. This move aligns with the industry’s broader journey towards meaningful innovation and sustainable commercialization of AI technologies.
