It was one of the rare times when I was going to an event as a visitor and not as an enabler. Hence, the perspective that I am going to put across will have a POV of a tech founder.A much-hyped event for sure, but I don’t think it was all gimmick (well, okay, a lot of gimmick for sure).
The Things That I Really Liked
Since we have been working on AI-based experiences at Liminal, the summit gave me quite a macro picture of the industry and who is doing what. Here are the highlights:
- Sovereign Solutions: It was interesting to see a lot of sovereign solutions native to India such as Sarvam, Vogic, and more. Something that I expected to see was Krutrim AI by Bhavesh Aggarwal, but I didn’t find it there or maybe I just missed it in the crowd.
- The Startup Landscape: The startup section was amazing. Some of the solutions they were offering really made me think: has the market already been saturated, or is there still scope? Spoiler: There’s always scope if you look hard enough and especially if you have the network with the clients.
- Big Giants: The larger giants mostly showcased use cases of AI in fun and interacting ways. Something that caught my eye was the cricket coaching AI by Google, where the user gets commentary on their batting stance using Gemini. This reminded me of a concept that we had pitched to VI for IMC25. Seeing the huge crowd at this stall kinda validated the idea we had put across, turns out, we were onto something there as this stall had the most footfall.
- Gen AI Videos: AI-generated videos were floating around like anything. Almost all the use cases by companies leveraged Gen AI for video generation. It validates that AI is not just a trend but an infrastructure that is shaping the content ecosystem.
- Government Initiatives: Almost all the state governments showcased their initiatives around AI. I don’t know if this was a compulsion because the PM was visiting, or if they are really trying to implement AI for governance and the public . Only time will tell.
- The Crowd Pullers: While we have already worked on projects for Airtel and they have solid AI use cases like spam detection and Airtel Secure their stall’s main attraction was a dancing robot. Naturally, it was a massive crowd puller. Nothing says cutting-edge technology quite like a robot making a move, right?
This brings me to the visitors: A very mixed crowd. From school kids and college students to industry experts and actual buyers. Most people seemed to be quite enthusiastic about the tech in general. Maybe this is where the gimmicky stuff really shines. The bait to bring the audience to your stall.
The new Jio Glass that I tried was really cool. It was much lighter than whatever I have worn so far, including the Meta Ray-Ban and the XReal glasses. Although, they claim that it is spatially aware and would give you spatially aware answers.
Imagine you asked it, “Where did I leave my keys?” and it tells you, “Oh! You left the keys under the couch cushions.” I think this is Intelligibly creepy. Maybe people will get used to it, but for now, it feels like having a stalker living on your face.
Jio also showcased some content made with AI, like a trailer of Mahabharata and an interactive avatar of Krishna, but it didn’t cut it for me. It seemed quite basic.
However, a few months ago we got a brief from JioStar to help develop a commentary engine using AI that translates real-time commentary into multiple languages. I was happy to see the solution there at their stall, developed by their own in-house team.
Does this mean that AI is democratizing software development and making it easier to build custom solutions that clients used to rely on companies like Liminal to execute? Maybe yes. But I think it is also good because this kind of execution power was never possible before, and this shift is natural with the advent of AI.
I also met a lot of my old clients and reconnected with them. Everyone seemed to be directly or indirectly using AI workflows. This is prevalent in all sectors of event management, marketing, training and broadcast. Seeing use cases like AI-powered power loom weaving is a solid example of how deep AI-based workflows have penetrated the Indian market.
The Things That Were a Disaster
While the tech was great, the logistics were a survival show.
- Hotels – While booking tickets, I thought of staying back for a day to attend some sessions, but the hotel rates were insane. Any decent hotel was charging around 30k a night for a basic room. Some high-end hotels went into several Lakhs for a night, which I think is just extortion. Luckily, the flight rates were reasonable.
- Commute- Reaching the venue itself was a nightmare. It took me about 45 minutes to cover the last 2 kms. I could have probably walked faster, but hindsight is 20/20.
- The Queue- The staff told me I didn’t need to print a registration badge (okay, cool), but the queue was quite long, and it took me another 20-25 minutes just to enter.
- An old client of mine flew all the way from Pune for the event, but there was no on-spot registration, so his entry was denied. Imagine how helpless you feel after traveling from another city and being told “No.” Registering beforehand is always good, but a lack of on-site registration just made things worse.
- Security Bizarre-ness– The previous day (Feb 16th), people were asked to leave the premises and go home after 2 PM. This is bizarre, as it wasn’t informed before. I also read a tweet mentioning that after leaving the premises, a company’s wearables that were being showcased got stolen. Can’t imagine anything worse for an exhibitor.
- The Hunger Games- Getting food was an absolute nightmare. First, you stand in a queue to buy a temporary card and recharge it (they charge a non-refundable 50rs for this). Even for water, you need to stand in a long queue to pay first, then stand in a second long queue to get the actual bottle. I wasted around 1 hour just to get lunch and water.
- The Dust Storm– The overall management was absolutely bad. Suddenly, around 4 PM, one of the corners inside the exhibition area started spraying dust inside. I don’t know if it was a malfunctioning AC or an exhaust system running in reverse, but the whole area was filled with dust and people had no clue what was happening. Suffocating inside the exhibition hall was definitely not on my bucket list for this trip.
Final Thoughts
Overall, despite the dust and the queues, I think I am glad that I went to the expo. It gave me a lot of insights into AI in India in general.
Plus, I met my friend Karan after a long time. Although we both live in Mumbai, we ended up meeting in Delhi, which is kinda funny. Sometimes you have to travel halfway across the country just to catch up with your neighbors.
Did you visit the summit? What was it for you?
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