The Odisha AI Conference 2024

The Odisha AI Conference 2024, held on 05 Oct 2024, brought together experts in artificial intelligence (AI) from across the globe to discuss the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in the field. The conference featured a diverse line-up of speakers, including leading scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers. 

This was the 5th year of the Odisha AI conference where the theme was “Gen AI now, what’s next?”. Swaroop Mishra (Research Scientist, Google DeepMind) was the convener of this year’s conference. Founder Anjan Kumar Panda, Col. Aditya Parida, Soumendra Kumar Sahoo, Kumarika Mohanty Panda, Subhendu Biswal and Santosh Panda were the core committee members who organised the conference successfully. Following are some of the key highlights of the event. Col. Prof.  Aditya Parida from Sweden called the conference to be open at the first light of the day in Japan.

Jeff Dean's Insights on the Future of Generative AI

Jeff Dean, the chief scientist of Google, provided his expert perspective on the future of generative AI. He highlighted key trends such as the development of multimodal models that can seamlessly process diverse data types, including text, code, images, and video. Dean emphasised the transformative potential of AI models capable of reliably completing complex, multi-step tasks. 

Inspiring Words from Dr. Chitta Baral, Dr. Debendra Das Sharma and Mrs. Kuku Das

Dr. Chitta Baral, a Professor at Arizona State University shed light on the history of bringing two science research institutes (NISER and IISER) to Odisha. He emphasised how dedicated work from a small group of individuals can bring a major change. He motivated the young members of the community to keep pushing for the development of Odisha. Dr. Das Sharma, a Scientist at Intel explained his critical innovation “InterConnect”. He also provided crucial suggestions on how to navigate the environment to be successful in AI. Mrs. Kuku Das, ex-President OSA encouraged the community members to continue doing the good work and shared her experience in this aspect.

Collaboration and Innovation: Key Drivers of AI Revolution

Dr. Sukant K. Mohapatra (Chairman, NIST Berhampur) and Dr. Pratyush Panda (Founder Sarvam.AI) shared their innovations and vision on how AI can be used to address social issues. Sailendra Panigrahi, Rashmita Panda, Dr. Priyadarsan Patra, Dr. Raj Dabre, Prof. Jay Lee, Nick Dash, Sukant Sahu, Tanaya Patnayak, Sushant Mallick, Om Mohapatra, Sunil Sabat and many other visionaries and leaders along with Odia AI chapter heads across various countries, states and districts emphasised the importance of collaboration and innovation for a successful future. Honourable MP of Jajpur, Rabindra Narayana  Behera also spoke at the conference and encouraged us with his inspiring words. He showed his support for this initiative. Anup Shaoo’s Japan team started the first presentation of the day followed by California Bay Area investor  Raj Mrutiny’s  talk onAngel Investing 101. The conference continued to the last light of the day in American Samoa ending in the resolve of the community.

Several enthusiastic community members gathered at physical locations and institutions. It was really encouraging to see strong interest from the Bangalore location and IIT Madras. This helped the organisers to arrange a bigger conference in the 2025 version.

A Call to Action for the Odia AI Community

The conference concluded with a call for action, urging participants to work together to ensure that AI is used for the benefit of humanity.