Anwesha Dash, Pune
The Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) has unveiled its plan to seek Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to stay ahead of fast emerging trends by analysing news and predicting the said media trends. AI will also help the ministry with localisation of government initiatives.
The government in its lookout for an AI-ML agency has opened up a contract and is inviting bids for the implementation of this plan. A “Request for Expression of Interest (REoI)” has been floated in the specific market by the wing of the ministry that deals with New Media communications. An REoI is a research tool, in the context of marketing, that helps to determine the interest of a supplier in the project. It also aids in shortlisting the eligible suppliers who have qualified.
In the request that was floated, the role of the MIB was outlined in terms of dissemination of information . The document read that the above mentioned ministry plays an important role by spreading information about various government initiatives and also integrates media campaigns for better reach and impact. Then the request went on to highlight that for the information to reach every citizen localisation was necessary. For localisation the key elements are translation, transcription and media convergence for which the ministry needs an AI based platform and services.
The AI platform should be user friendly, interactive and support both visual and textual uploads that can be further downloaded with translations by the public. It should also incorporate both online and offline information.
Apart from this the ministry also seeks to predict trends through the AI driven platform. By scrounging through thousands of online platforms the AI-ML will help in analysing the patterns and predicting trends. This will help the ministry in implementing better communication strategies and more accurate solutions. MIB plans to be more citizen oriented in its approach through this platform.
But before the platform is created all the agencies taking part in the bid must meet certain requirements. Such as having a yearly turnover of more than Rs. 25 crores. There should also be consistency of turnover, hence data of the past three financial years will be analysed. Moreover, the agency should also have experience in working in the public sector and executing at least three AI-ML projects valued more than Rs. 1 crore.