Experts at a seminar on Thursday called for exploiting the artificial intelligence (AI) technology for the development of agriculture, healthcare, cyber security, traffic management and surveillance in the country.
They also pointed out that shortage of skilled human resources is a major challenge to AI innovation in the country.
They also urged the government to take initiative to bring expert Bangladeshi nationals back home, who have been working with global technology giants, so that they can contribute to AI innovation in the country.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) organised the seminar titled 'Enabling the Positive Use of Artificial Intelligence for All' at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the city, marking the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day-2018.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Professor Dr Mohammed Eunus Ali, North South University Professor M Rokonuzzaman, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) president Syed Almas Kabir and Robi Axiata Limited managing director and CEO Mahtab Uddin Ahmed spoke at the event.
Giving a presentation, Prof Dr Eunus Ali said high availability of data is needed as an input to AI algorithms, but relevant database is either incomplete or entirely unusable.
Terming data shortage a key barrier to developing AI, he said, "The more data you have, the more powerful AI technology you can develop."
Dr Eunus, a teacher of Computer Science and Engineering department of BUET, said many Bangladeshis have been working with tech giants like Google and Microsoft; these expert professionals can be a big asset for the country's technology sector.
The government can arrange programmes like China so that skilled expatriates could return home to make the country more technologically advanced.
He also said there is huge scope of using AI for the development of agriculture, healthcare, cyber security and surveillance.
Citing an example of using AI in agriculture, he said BUET students have developed software aligned with AI that can detect crop diseases with a success rate of 98 per cent.
With massive amount of data input, this type of software can be used to increase agricultural production through crop disease detection, soil test, insect monitoring and using pesticides in time and weather forecast, he added.
Referring to 12 per cent system loss in the country's power sector, BASIS president Almas Kabir said using AI-enabled Autonomous Energy Grids (AEGs) can reduce system loss significantly as such system is supported by a scalable, reconfigurable, and self-organising information and control infrastructure.
He said AI can also be used in primary healthcare, as it is quite tough to provide medical treatment to over 160 million people in the country with only 25,000 doctors.
He also said traffic congestion in Dhaka city can be managed in more organised way through installing smart cameras integrated with AI technology.
Prof Rokonuzzaman said fourth industrial revolution will entirely be based on digital technology and Bangladesh should reform its policies to cope with the change.
Earlier in the day, BTRC brought out a colourful procession to mark the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day-2018.
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