New Delhi [India], April 30 : AI-led discovery of long-standing vulnerabilities in banking systems is a "wake-up call" not only for US banks, but also India and rest of the world, said Sheetal Chopra, Director at National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
"It has been a wake-up call for US and not only for US, it has been a wake-up call for India and the world on the whole," she said while addressing the CII event on CIO Conclave and CIO Excellence Awards themed "Leading in an era of Intelligent Transformation."
She also toldthat the development reflects a broader global concern, with artificial intelligence rapidly evolving and exposing risks across systems.
"So it is definitely a wake up call for all of us that these are the vulnerabilities which AI can discover at such a fast pace. We really need to be abreast with the technology, we really need to update ourselves with the technology so that we are not left behind," he said.
Stressing on the data safety, she said, " We have to preserve our data. We have to preserve our data security."
Chopra said the vulnerabilities, which existed "about 27 years ago" in banking systems, were recently identified by an AI research company, underlining how AI is working faster than humans in certain areas.
Referring to developments she had read about, she added, "It was initially a wake up call for US banks... I have read something in the news only. Just gone through the news."
She noted that such developments had triggered discussions among stakeholders, including in India, reflecting the seriousness of the issue for the financial sector.
Highlighting the pace of change, Chopra said the impact of AI is continuous and far-reaching. "It is not only AI Impact Summit... the impact of AI is so vast, it is so quick and it is ever changing that everybody has to now deal with it. Everybody has to learn this," she said.
Sheetal Chopra says government support in India is enabling AI innovation by providing compute facilities at affordable rates.
"The Government of India is basically providing the compute facility at a very low rates," she said, adding that startups, researchers and companies are increasingly engaging in AI development.
Chopra also outlined the role of NIELIT in capacity building, stating that the organisation has established around 20 AI labs across the country. "We are providing the opportunities to students from all across to come and learn with us and do all kinds of experiments on AI," she said.
Sheetal says the country is competing "neck to neck" with other nations in AI, supported by initiatives such as the India AI Mission and domestic innovation.
"We are competing neck to neck and I am hoping that there will be a time when the US will look up to us, China will look up to us for the AI innovations," she said.
Chopra declined to comment on the India Semiconductor Mission, stating she would prefer to speak on AI and related technologies.
She emphasised that professionals must continuously upgrade their skills to keep pace with technological change. "It is going to bring in many more new opportunities unless you are equipped with this new technology, you are going to lose out on that," she added.
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