Investment in AI can fetch 10 times return: Experts

Investing in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector during the Fourth Industrial Revolution may fetch up to 10 times return, said the experts at a discussion programme.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution may cut jobs in some cases, but it can also create numerous jobs and pave the way for $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, said the ICT entrepreneurs and industrialists at the virtual discussion titled "Artificial intelligence and the Impact on Information Technology (IT) Service Sector in Bangladesh," organised by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) on Thursday.

At the event, Robi Axiata Chief Information Officer Dr Asif Naimur Rashid said, "A major revolution is taking place globally in various branches of technology, including IoT (Internet of Things) and blockchain, which are centered on AI. General investment brings a maximum 20-30% profit, while investment in AI can fetch up to 10 times profit."

"Bangladesh is still in its infancy in artificial intelligence, IoT, and blockchain technologies. The scope of using these technologies in various fields like traffic management, supply of goods, medicine, industry, banking, agriculture, education is still wide open. As a result, there are huge investment opportunities here," said Dr Asif, who is also the founding managing director of Red Digital. 

"In a real sense, we could not bring the Third Industrial Revolution's benefits to all. So our preparation for the Fourth Industrial Revolution is like that of a backward student in a class," said Khaledur Dewan, group chief operating officer at EB Solutions Limited.

He also said, "There is not much coordination in our curriculum about what kind of knowledge and skills are required in the industry. The education system also needs to be streamlined to deal with the Fourth Industrial Revolution."

"Information and communication technology should be included in the primary curriculum. Broadband internet should be provided at affordable prices all over the country. Government office files-documents need to be converted into digital documents. And new documents also have to be created, stored and distributed digitally," Khaledur said.

"Many jobs may vanish in the next 10 years due to technological changes. At the same time new employment opportunities may emerge. According to the PricewaterhouseCoopers, 80 crore jobs will go extinct across the world by 2030 due to automation technology. Naturally, countries with labor-intensive economies like ours will be in danger. So we have to focus on a knowledge-based economy from now on," said Manjur Mahmud, chief operating officer of DataSoft.

CPD Executive Director Fahmida Khatun, who moderated the programme, said, "We have to be prepared to take advantage of the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. We can benefit from this sector by increasing human resource's efficiency, financial benefits and by creating policies."

"Digital platforms are playing an important role in entrepreneurship and consumer growth as well as job creation," she added.

Speakers participating in the discussion said the digital economy is developing constantly due to the availability of internet services. However, the use of computers in the country is still low as only 5.6% of the total population has computers, while 37.6% use the internet. They called for the government's initiative to increase this rate.