At the 25th CIO&Leader Annual Conference, Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, addressed over 200 CIOs and NEXT100 winners in a virtual Q&A session. During the discussion, Ambani, who leads Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL)—the telecom division of Reliance Industries and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms—shared his vision for India’s digital future and highlighted the crucial role AI will play in driving the next phase of growth in the country.
Ambani discussed Jio’s strategy to democratize AI by leveraging its success in enabling nationwide connectivity. He highlighted AI’s crucial role in shaping the future of enterprises, Jio’s commitment to developing hyper-personalized AI solutions, and the importance of cultivating an AI-driven culture within Reliance Industries.
Since joining the RJIL board as a non-Executive Director in 2014, Ambani has been a driving force behind the company’s mission to revolutionize India’s digital landscape. As the current leader, he spearheads Jio’s initiatives in 5G, AI, Blockchain, and IoT, aiming to initiate a transformative shift in commerce, education, and healthcare.
Jio, which was initially soft-launched on December 27, 2015, for partners and employees, became publicly available on September 5, 2016. It has since rapidly grown to become India’s largest mobile network operator and the third-largest globally, with over 481.8 million subscribers (as of August 2024).
CIO&Leader: How do you see AI shaping the future of industries in India? What role will Reliance Industries play in this transformation, both in India and globally?
Akash Ambani: AI has transitioned from a buzzword to a mainstream technology, driving unprecedented transformations across industries. It holds the promise to revolutionize sectors, unlock significant business value, and enhance customer experiences. The advancements in generative AI, especially with multi-modal and multi-lingual capabilities, are particularly exciting. We expect open-source technology to be key in making AI both affordable and effective for businesses.
At Jio, our mission to connect 1.4 billion Indians now extends to integrating AI across every enterprise segment and into daily life.
For example, since the launch of our 5G service, we’ve utilized real-time AI to optimize our radio cells and network equipment. With over 2 million radio cells deployed across India, each unit is autonomously optimized to meet specific traffic and customer needs. These real-life applications will only accelerate with the advancements in generative AI, leading to a range of hyper-personalized solutions driven by our enterprise knowledge.
At Jio, we see ourselves not merely as participants but as architects of this transformation. Our role has evolved from managing IT infrastructure to spearheading strategic initiatives. AI and data-driven insights are now integral to our daily operations, and we aim to incorporate AI into all our product segments—mobility, home, enterprise, and applications.
We recognize the vast potential of AI applications such as natural language processing, computer vision, and machine learning, especially given India’s diverse landscape. Our focus on generative AI is about transforming initial excitement into practical, scalable applications. We plan to leverage generative AI to automate creative processes and personalize customer experiences, embedding these advancements into our Jio platforms.
Reflecting on our journey, we have leveraged AI at Jio for a couple of years and are now prepared to share our best practices and learnings with our enterprise customers. In summary, it is crucial to allocate resources based on the strategic importance of each project, embrace change, carefully evaluate business value, consider expected ROI, and assess implementation complexity. This approach remains our main focus at Jio.
CIO&Leader: What are the key challenges in making AI democratization possible?
Akash Ambani: To fully harness the benefits of AI, we must approach it with an open mind and embrace change. Technology should enhance our customers’ lives and provide real business value, not be used just for the sake of it. It is crucial that our solutions deliver tangible outcomes and address key issues like privacy, security, and data sovereignty. Our goal is to advance quickly while remaining responsible and mindful.
Additionally, overcoming resistance to new technologies is essential. As a forward-thinking company, we have embraced AI through partnerships with technology providers, leveraging open-source ecosystems, and developing in-house solutions. Regularly reflecting on our practices and sharing insights with our enterprise customers is critical for effective AI adoption.
Every technology must be evaluated thoroughly. It’s important to move beyond legacy thought processes and focus on what you are truly enabling. For us, key considerations include data privacy, sovereignty, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and affordability. We assess each of these aspects carefully and choose the most suitable approach—whether partnering with technology providers, using open-source tools, or building in-house AI solutions. Although we’re in the early stages, we are committed to leveraging all available avenues to achieve our goals.
AI and data-driven insights are now integral to our daily operations, and we aim to incorporate AI into all our product segments—mobility, home, enterprise, and applications.
CIO&Leader: How can Reliance Jio collaborate with manufacturing industry CIOs to facilitate practical AI/ML proof of concepts? What steps would you recommend to help them showcase tangible results to management?
Akash Ambani: At Reliance Jio, we emphasize the importance of partner ecosystems and joint enterprise collaborations. Our partnership with Azure provides a solid foundation for advancing AI/ML initiatives across various sectors. To facilitate practical AI/ML proof of concepts, we recommend that manufacturing CIOs explore the most effective approaches within this partnership and tailor them to their specific needs.
We encourage companies to assess their unique requirements and collaborate with us to devise the best strategy. By working closely together, we can ensure that these initiatives deliver tangible results and provide clear value to management.
CIO&Leader: How can organizations scale their infrastructure for growing AI workloads and optimize for real-time processing? What bottlenecks or challenges should they anticipate?
Akash Ambani: I view this question in two parts. First, achieving high reliability is crucial. Within our company, I’ve advocated for measuring reliability not just as a percentage but on a per-customer basis. Whether the customer is an enterprise or a network service user, even minimal downtime can lead to significant frustration.
To address the scalability of infrastructure, cloud-native architectures are essential. Leveraging microservices and containerization for modular AI applications is critical. We tend to overinvest in scalable infrastructure and sometimes over-engineer systems, but this is necessary for ensuring service availability and continuity.
Interoperability and open standards also play an important role in staying ahead of trends. It’s important to continuously monitor and experiment with emerging technologies, especially in the rapidly evolving generative AI space. Regular experimentation with new AI tools can enhance business operations and customer engagement.
CIO&Leader: How do you anticipate AI will transform the global economy? What proactive strategies should be adopted to manage its effects on employment, and mitigate job displacement?
Akash Ambani: AI presents a substantial growth opportunity, with recent studies projecting over $250 billion potential market by next decade. This highlights the immense value AI can unlock, offering unprecedented business advantages.
Regarding job displacement, I believe AI will primarily enhance organizational efficiency and focus, rather than diminish employment opportunities. By integrating AI tools effectively within our ecosystem, we can improve job roles and create new opportunities. The key lies in deploying AI with a clear focus on real customer needs and business value. With the right approach, AI will not only augment existing roles but also generate new ones, benefiting the Indian workforce significantly.
CIO&Leader: Jio is developing Bharat GPT, a specialized LLM for India, in collaboration with IIT Bombay. Can you share more about this project and its expected launch?
Akash Ambani: We’re currently in the exploratory phase with Bharat GPT. It’s essential to establish a strong business case and understand the impact it could have on a billion Indians before moving forward. As we make significant advancements, you’ll hear about it directly from us. Our focus remains on developing technology that can be democratized for all of India, ensuring it brings meaningful change to the lives of our consumers.