In an era where Artificial Intelligence is poised to redefine the global economy and innovation landscape, India stands at a critical juncture. At the forefront of this transformation is BGAI.Tech, an emerging force in AI education and innovation, led by the visionary Saikat Basu. In an exclusive conversation with Myrtle Rodrigues, Co-Founder of Incubees, Basu opens up about BGAI.Tech’s strategic partnership with Syamantaka Technologies—a young Indian tech firm—aimed at democratizing AI literacy across India, starting with school students and eventually spanning every stratum of society.
From introducing AI as a subject for children in classes 3 to 12 to ensuring job-readiness through dynamic, industry-aligned curricula, BGAI.Tech’s mission is ambitious yet deeply rooted in inclusion and accessibility. With a rollout strategy beginning in smaller states like Goa and expanding to the nation at large, this initiative aspires to make India not just AI-literate—but AI-equipped and globally competitive.
This interview delves into the roadmap, challenges, and ethical imperatives of BGAI.Tech’s India journey, exploring how this alliance plans to blend cutting-edge global standards with indigenous relevance.
Incubees: What strategic goals does BGAI.Tech aim to achieve through its partnership with Syamantaka Technologies in India’s AI education landscape?
Basu: It’s really early days for India’s AI education landscape and BGAI.Tech, under the banner of Mastix Ed, came up with what is arguably the world’s first comprehensive curricula on AI for school students, from 3rd to 12th grade, which were designed by me. BGAI aims to drive India’s AI aspirations through two primary goals. First, we seek to educate school students, empowering them to become AI-enabled technologists and AI entrepreneurs over the next decade, positioning India’s AI revolution to surpass its software and mobile revolutions. Second, BGAI.Tech develops, integrates, and deploys AI and IT products, projects, and solutions to make India and the world AI-powered, step by step, and in the near future, qubit by qubit. Syamantaka Technologies is our ideal partner in India, capable of delivering our courses, curricula, products, and solutions to even the remotest parts of the country. Our ambitious yet achievable goal, supported by India’s mobile and internet penetration, is to make every Indian AI-literate and AI-equipped within the next five years.
Incubees: Why was Syamantaka Technologies chosen as the partner for this initiative in India, and what unique value does it bring to BGAI.Tech’s mission?
Basu: Syamantaka Technologies has what it takes to deliver BGAI’s offerings to the people of India and as a young tech enterprise, they’re full of enthusiasm and most importantly their values and vision align seamlessly with ours. And these shared values and commitment will enable us to achieve significant milestones in taking India’s AI movement forward.
Incubees: How will this collaboration address the growing need for AI literacy and skill development across different educational levels in India — from schools to universities?
Basu: We’re starting with smaller states like Goa where logistically it’s a lot easier to get things done, just because the size is small and we have limited resources at the moment. Once they’re covered, then we’ll move to bigger states with tons of experience we’ll have gathered in these smaller states. We’ve devised strategies to make sure that no one, and I insist no one, is left behind irrespective of their age, sex, financial conditions or geography. However, we’re starting with school students as there’s almost nothing for them yet and that needs to be addressed immediately.
Incubees: Are there plans to integrate indigenous Indian use cases or languages into the AI curriculum and tools being developed under this partnership?
Basu: Yes, absolutely. As I’m responding to this question, I just finished designing the course and curriculum for 3rd graders in Hindi. We’ll start with Hindi and then move to all major Indian languages in the first phase and then cover all other languages which are used to educate children in the next 2 years.
Incubees: What specific training programs, certifications, or platforms will be rolled out as part of this partnership, and how accessible will they be for students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities?
Basu: Our courses for children are ON AI which means AI is a subject. For adults, in general, and professionals, in particular, we also have short to mid-term courses which last anywhere between a few hours and several months. However, here, the focus is more on the usage of AI in their field or sector and how AI can make their work a lot easier so that they can spend more time on becoming more creative and effective or enhance sales and increase profit margin if they’re running a business. Several sector-specific AI platforms will be rolled in the not-so-distant future and they’ll cater to students in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities and villages. I can’t share more details about them yet but everybody’ll come to know soon.
Incubees: How will BGAI.Tech and Syamantaka Technologies ensure industry relevance and job-readiness for learners graduating from these AI programs?
Basu: That’s a great question! One of the USPs of our courses and curricula is that they’re dynamic in nature and will be updated every couple of months. As AI evolves, so does our courses and curricula which means students always learn most updated topics. The way the courses are designed makes learners understand the fundamental concepts and building blocks of AI and at the same time, equipped with all the practical projects. We adopt hands-on approach and the students get to do industry-relevant projects. We can do that as we also have a tech development wing under BGAI.
Incubees: In the context of ethical AI and data governance, how does this India initiative plan to align with both global standards and India’s evolving regulatory framework?
Basu: We’re well prepared for these challenges and honestly, Indian government, spearheaded by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is one of those administrations who has taken a proactive, positive and futuristic approach toward AI and not shackle it with over regulation. Technology is always invented to help mankind but there’re some bad apples here and there and we need to safeguard against them. The famous right-hand bias which the AI agents possess needs to be rectified and along with it, all other biases should also go. We also need to protect against copyright infringement which is also pretty rampant nowadays. There’re quite a few areas under this topic which need to be addressed immediately. All stakeholders from AI sector need to come together to come up with robust solutions with proper checks and balances in place so that AI innovators and entrepreneurs don’t feel suffocated. And I’m sure we can do that.
