Meet the Innovators Shaping AI to Serve Those Often Left Behind

AI is everywhere, but how we use it is what truly brings about change. Across India, far removed from urban innovation labs and big-tech campuses, in regions where access often trumps ambition, grassroots innovators are using data and AI not to replace people but to empower them. In conversation with AIM, Kartik Sawhney, Avinabha Datta, Ashim Tuli and  P Vivekanandan, who are part of the CDSSI Fellowship by the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM), shared how they’re using technology to change lives. What Does Grassroots AI Look Like? Imagine if you couldn’t read 96% of the internet. That’s a sad reality for millions of visually impaired individuals. As someone who is blind himself, Kartik Sawhney is all too aware of this. As a teenager, he had to manually tra