Rise in the implementation of AI across different areas has spurred the growth of ethical uses of AI algorithms: Dr. Shreeram Iyer, Chairman and Group CEO, Prisma AI

CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Dr. Shreeram Iyer, Group Chairman and CEO, Prisma AI

The integration of AI and ML in various industries has become increasingly prevalent, bringing about transformative changes and addressing complex challenges. In the aviation sector, this technological infusion has played a pivotal role in enhancing safety, security, and overall passenger experience. Our interaction with Dr. Shreeram Iyer, Group Chairman and CEO, Prisma AI explores the dynamic landscape of AI in aviation, with a focus on Prisma AI’s perspective and initiatives in this evolving space.

Q1. What has led to an increased integration of AI and ML in the aviation industry?

Ans 1. Recognizing the challenges faced in aviation, such as immediate medical assistance, detection of illegal weapons, and tracking incidental activities, underscores the necessity of AI and ML integration. These technologies empower personnel to ensure smooth operations and deliver seamless travel experiences for passengers. Air travel seamlessly connects people worldwide, but ensuring the utmost safety and comfort for passengers is a responsibility. The aviation industry constantly evolves to meet these demands, leveraging advanced technologies like AI and ML to enhance security, safety, and overall customer experience. The challenges faced in aviation, such as immediate medical assistance, detection of illegal weapons, and tracking incidental activities, require swift and efficient solutions. By integrating AI and ML, we empower personnel to address these challenges while ensuring smooth operations and delivering seamless travel experiences for all passengers. These technologies are not just a luxury but a necessity to elevate safety and service standards in air travel.

Q2. The technology is playing an increasingly significant role in sectors across India. How does Prisma AI look at the evolving AI landscape across sectors?

Ans 2. In recent years, there has been a steep increase in the use of frontier technologies like AI, ML, and Big Data across different sectors in India. These revolutionary technologies enable the country to innovate in every sector, help create better transparency with the citizens, and lead to a better overall experience for the end-user.

Several sectors offer the potential to improve people’s lives through digitization via artificial intelligence and automated systems. Embracing digital technologies is indispensable in the rapidly evolving digital world, and with AI being a driving force, it can be accomplished efficiently. As a nation, India is progressing towards elevating the quality of life through adopting AI. Building on the same vision, Prisma AI currently focuses on three major sectors with an ancillary role to play in a country’s development – Aviation, BFSI, and Infrastructure.

Despite the increased use of EMV cards (Europay, MasterCard, Visa, etc.) coupled with password creation policies, there has been a surge in banking fraud cases. As a result of the billions that significant banking institutions lose due to these frauds, there has been a call to switch to AI-based verification to ensure the safety and security of customers while maintaining a focus on efficiency.

AI significantly improves safety, efficiency, and passenger experience in the aviation sector, making it an essential technology for the industry’s ongoing development. From on-ground assistance to in-air assistance, the aviation sector leverages AI in several areas, such as predictive analytics, training and simulation, logistics, security, passenger experience, and customer safety. AI is emerging as a game-changer in the aviation industry.

In the realm of infrastructure, AI is bringing about a revolution in road safety management. It actively monitors real-time anomalies and is taking the lead by tracking incidents like red light violations, reckless driving, accidents, and speeding. Today, AI is safeguarding the lives of the public by swiftly identifying impending irregularities in the public infrastructure by making use of historical data.

It can be indicated with the integration of AI in these three sectors, India will soon emerge as a global leader in the BFSI, Infrastructure, and Aviation industries, and we, as a pioneer in providing AI-based solutions to these sectors, are dedicating are efforts to transform India as a global leader when it comes to AI.

Q3. How does Prisma AI, as part of its partnership with Adani Airports, enhance passenger assistance and safety at airports?

Ans 3. AI-driven solutions can help streamline airport processes, making them more efficient and less time-consuming for passengers. It can enhance safety and security through advanced surveillance and threat detection systems.

With Prisma AI technology, Adani Group has achieved adaptation of Visual AI to provide humanitarian assistance to the customers at the Airports. This year Prisma AI introduced the innovative “Desk of Goodness” system at multiple Adani airports. This system helps identify incidents such as falls or unusual passenger behaviors at airports, enabling real-time notifications to airport personnel. This swift response mechanism enhances passenger assistance and safety in departure and pre-security areas. The “Desk of Goodness” system has been deployed in multiple airports, demonstrating its effectiveness and reliability, thereby significantly improving the overall passenger experience. Apart from this, it will also ensure that the passengers get a state-of-the-art airport experience.

Q4. As cutting-edge technologies increasingly fuel progress, there is a rising concern about the unethical utilization of AI. How can a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) guarantee the ethical application of AI technologies?

Ans 4. As AI has extended its foot from the realm of imagination to reality, we are seeing extraordinary growth in the ways AI is being used. Today, AI has become a driving force of every industry and at each stage. However, the rise in the implementation of AI across different areas has also spurred the growth of unethical uses of AI algorithms.

While the democratization of new-age technologies has led leaders to trust advanced algorithms with critical data, hackers and other bad actors are trying to steal data employing AI for unethical purposes such as stealing data and deploying such as malware and ransomware.

To ensure ethical use of AI, CTOs are laying a great focus on ensuring the responsible use of AI technologies, training all the stakeholders on how to use AI ethically, developing comprehensive data strategies, empowering employees to design responsible products, and increasing transparency.

Besides that, CTOs are also focusing on introducing initiatives specially designed to help the public. To ensure the ethical use of AI, Prisma AI has also launched an initiative known as ‘AI For Good.’ The initiative substantially concentrates on promoting the ethical use of AI by launching services that emphasize on benefiting the public. As part of its ‘AI For Good,’ Prisma AI recently introduced ‘Desk of Goodness’ in partnership with Adani. By harnessing the power of AI, Prisma AI is simplifying the travel experience for passengers and travelers. It extends compassionate support to passengers with diverse needs, including elderly travelers, mothers with infants, and individuals requiring wheelchair assistance.

Q5. What are the most significant upcoming trends we can anticipate in the intersection of the aviation and technology sectors?

Ans 5. The interaction of aviation and technology will be a game changer for the aviation industry. With companies keeping passenger experience and safety at the forefront, we are already seeing the introduction of a few technologies. As we move forward, there are going to be many more developments in this sector with technology playing a substansive role, soon. Some trends that we can anticipate are:

Runway Inspection with AI

Computer vision is increasingly being utilized in runway inspection to detect potential issues with the runway surface. This is crucial as small cracks or potholes can have severe consequences. Systems use sensors like infrared and thermal imaging to create detailed maps of the runway surface, identifying defects or damage that need repair. AI vision is also used for detecting debris, foreign objects, pavement deficiencies, and airport safety. Large-scale applications also use cameras with deep learning detection to identify unauthorized people or airplanes.

AI Vision for Cargo Inspection

Advanced computer vision algorithms aid airport security in inspecting cargo for potential threats like explosives, weapons, or narcotics. AI-assisted cargo inspection speeds up the process by using deep learning models to detect patterns in image data. The neural network is trained on annotated images of known explosive materials, and if a match is found, it triggers a manual inspection.

Counter Drone Systems

Counter-drone systems use sensors, radar, PTZ, and infrared cameras to detect rogue drones in a geofenced area around airports. They can also intercept and destroy drones using high-powered lasers or radio signals, disrupting their electronics and causing a crash.