Four Types of Professionals: Where Do You Belong?

 Dear Friends,

Recently, the photo of Alejandro Navarro went viral. He was a devoted math teacher from Texas. He rushed to the hospital with a severe health crisis. He brought his laptop and charger along with him. From his ICU bed, he spent his last moments grading papers—making sure every student’s work was completed and no one was left behind. The next day, he passed away.

However, many such dedicated teachers go unnoticed. Having said that, a few teachers spoil the spirit with their ill attitude. Often, teachers are shown as comedians in many movies, and that impression is carried among some students. Generally, the true value of a teacher is unnoticed as the student encounters teachers during childhood/adolescence. During this age, they wouldn’t have major responsibilities. Often this phase is carried away with fun and ambiguity, and they do not recognize the value of the teacher. By the time the student realizes this fact, there are no teachers mapped. In the process, many times, the teacher also loses purpose and motivation due to this non-recognition by their students. On top of this, in current times, the teaching profession has become commercialized. Revenue generation and recognition have become core motivational factors.

Where are those great teachers like Sujit Chattopadhyay? He is fondly known as the Two Rupees Teacher. In 2021, he was awarded the Padma Shri. After retiring in 2004 at the age of 60, he was concerned about how he would spend his days in retirement. Three girls, who had travelled 20 kilometres barefoot, arrived at his house one day, requesting him to teach them. This humble beginning has now grown to enrol more than 350 children.

Being a teacher myself, sometimes I feel I am also trapped. I hail from a teacher’s family. My great-grandfather and maternal grandfather were Sanskrit teachers. My paternal grandfather, my parents, and my sister were teachers. Later, my spouse left an IT job and became a teacher. With this background, I also quit my IT job in 2010 and joined teaching with a specific purpose in mind. I was able to spend almost a year without salary. The fire in my belly was intact. However, when funds started drying, I could not sustain that fire and committed to a day job for salary—of course in teaching. Having said that, I did not lose the purpose, but it got diluted with different professional and family responsibilities and was often tagged with certain limitations. In those circumstances, you are no more labelled as a Mission Teacher.

That was the time I realized the difference between Drifter Teacher, Mechanic Teacher, Dreamer Teacher, and Mission Teacher. Let me give the definitions.

• X–Axis (horizontal): Inspiration/Dedication (Left = Low Dedication, Right = High Dedication).
• Y–Axis (vertical): Purpose (Bottom = Low, Top = High).

Then the 2x2 matrix would be:

• Bottom Left (Low Purpose, Low Dedication): Drifter Teacher (neither committed nor purposeful).
• Bottom Right (Low Purpose, High Dedication): Mechanic Teacher (hardworking but without deeper vision).
• Top Left (High Purpose, Low Dedication): Dreamer Teacher (inspired but inconsistent in practice).
• Top Right (High Purpose, High Dedication): Mission Teacher (ideal blend, teaching with meaning and effort, without expecting any results—name, fame, money).

When we aspire for growth in terms of recognition, salary, and promotion, we can never be called Mission Teachers. They should be by-products. A few reach this level. My maternal grandfather was a Mission Teacher. However, I rate the rest of my family members to the level of Mechanical Teachers. Given good health and minimum self-sustenance, I aspire to attempt once again and retest in the future. Of course, we are all bound to fulfil certain family responsibilities. Otherwise, the same world would categorize them as Mission Teachers but irresponsible towards family.

It is not just limited to teaching; the same matrix is applicable to every profession. Honestly, which category do you belong to? Self-reflect.

Ravi Saripalle

Hallucination is Not a Bug, It’s a Feature: Lessons for AI and Humanity

Dear Friends,

Recently, I was watching a documentary on Makoko AKA, Lagos, also known as the Venice of Nigeria—the largest floating slum in Africa. This is a floating village. Long back, we visited Kerala, stayed in a floating cottage and boathouse on the Kochi backwaters, and earlier at the Alleppey backwaters. The purpose there was to recreate in nature. However, the Makoko scene is completely different. I was astonished and amused to witness their life on the waters. It is surrounded by dirty sewage water. People commute using boats, and a few children were swimming in those waters. Constant fear (natural calamities, epidemics, and neighborhood issues) haunts people. In contrast, just opposite this slum, we can witness Lagos city—the largest urban agglomeration in Nigeria and one of the fastest-growing megacities in the world.

Now, what is today’s story? Let’s contemplate the learning & thinking process of kids who grow up in rich conditions versus slum conditions. If you ask them the same question: What are you most scared of?

• A rich kid may respond (of course, not all of them): “Monsters under the bed, using public transportation, or losing power & internet.”

• A slum kid may respond (again, not all): “Demolition of their temporary shelter by the government, floods, hunger, or fights in the neighborhood.”

If a rich kid sees the slum kid’s answer, it causes amusement, and vice versa. There is nothing wrong or right here.

However, there is a huge uproar when it comes to AI responding to a few questions differently. After all, an AI model is like a child. What you feed, how you train—it comes out. Having said that, it is causing huge financial damage to the AI model owners. A human learns year after year and makes decisions. If it goes wrong, we accept it and say “human error.” But we are not giving sufficient time to AI to learn. If it says something wrong, we immediately call it a hallucination. (Dictionary meaning: a sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch that a person believes to be real but is not real.)

A Vectara study found that even the best models still make things up at least 0.7% of the time. According to allaboutai.com, these “hallucinations” caused $67.4 billion in damages globally in 2024.

We all need to understand: Hallucination is NOT A BUG. It is A FEATURE. That is how AI understands and responds—like any average human being’s response. Let’s not misunderstand it. Future jobs will include AI Human Reviewers—teaching AI specific lessons on domains and issues, and reducing hallucination. Later, AI Tutors will comprehensively teach humans! This is going to be a new cycle.

Today, The Hindu published an editorial: “Set the guardrails for AI use in courtrooms.” This was in the context of a recent case where an AI transcription tool repeatedly transcribed the claimant’s name, “Noel”, as “no.” If AI cites a paper—Journal of Applied AI, Vol. 12, 2019—that does not exist, we need to help AI understand the issue. If you ask AI, “What’s the capital of Brazil?” and it confidently replies “Buenos Aires” instead of Brasília, we need to teach the AI. These hallucination scenarios are to be patiently resolved with AI.

In the 1990s, we hired many manual testers to catch software bugs. Over time, manual testers started vanishing, and the era of test automation began. Now the same manual tester is coming back in a new avatar called an AI Human Reviewer. Their job is to catch and correct hallucinations before they reach users.

Human judgment and AI hallucination will always exist. They change from time to time, context to context, data to data, and many more factors. When we accept human judgment in the form of human error or rational decision, the same should apply to hallucination as well. Let’s accept it.

The ultimate solution forever would be to develop AI systems with a Human in the Loop. Fully autonomous systems are not practical for humanity (especially in the Indian context). And a human race without technological aid would also push us back to a primitive state. Both radical scenarios are not good for society.

Wishing policy makers balance this act—especially in the Indian context—with 56 million rich (>30L), 432 million middle class (5L to 30L), 732 million aspirers (1.25L to 5L), and 196 million destitutes (<1.25L) (2021 data). A Bharat AI Policy should cater to these levels, and AI training data should represent these four classes.

Ravi Saripalle

The ₹-Cost of the Tilted Head— How Neck Pain Leads to GDP Pain?

Dear Friends,

I asked Siddharth to draw a concept for today’s article. In our casual conversation, he was talking about a particular artist who drew various people’s pictures across the world while they were doing their respective chores (walking, eating, chatting, shopping, etc.), watching a mobile in their hand. Later, he chopped their hands in his pictures and grouped them on one canvas, showing how their heads tilted down irrespective of their chore.

This tilting is not just a head pose/neck-down issue, but it is becoming an economic pose-down! Let me dive deep into the statistics. However, a few numbers are assumptions. I am drawing some derivations for discussion purposes, but a few may not be true figures.

Explodingtopics.com

published a few stats recently on this issue. Globally, in 2025, people spend approximately 6 hours and 40 minutes of screen time per day. Daily screen time has increased by over 30 minutes per day since 2013. Almost half (49%) of 0- to 2-year-olds interact with smartphones. Gen Z averages around 9 hours of screen time per day. Here is the rate of change between average screen time in 2023 and 2024 for select countries: India’s change in screen time increased by 22 minutes in one year itself.

I was doing simple math on how it is an economic issue. Here are my assumptions and numbers.

Total smartphone users — 71,20,00,000 (people) — Estimated India smartphone users (~2025).

Employed ratio: 53% — Assume the share of the population that is employed.

Reels watchers’ fraction: 25% — Assumed share of people watching 1 h/day.

Average hourly wage: 101.50 (₹/hour).

However, when they watch these reels, they get some entertainment as well. Assume 20% of that 1 hour is the value credited back. This is a productivity gain value.

However, most of them watch at night (assuming 30%), and they get fatigued the next day, which impacts productivity the next day. I took fatigue hours as 0.16 (hours/day). This is productivity loss.

It also strains the eye. Assuming 18% of them need an extra eye exam, and the eye exam costs 500 rupees. This is an economic cost.

However, platform owners like Insta/Facebook get some ad revenue. Assume Ad Revenue Per Hour: 0.29 (₹/hour) — gross monetization per hour of social attention. Having said that, assume the creator’s share of ad revenue is 25% (share).

However, assume 50% of non-employed watchers are students; for them, it is learning loss and future opportunity loss, hence it is future economic loss. It means assuming a displacement rate of study time of 1 hour/day.

In between, I took many more assumptions, a lot of math, and finally arrived at a number. Of course, I am not that great in math accuracy (assume a few mathematical errors and approximations); however, it is a whopping figure!! I am showing here how big the loss is!!

Employed net cost/productivity loss/opportunity cost (annual): ₹3.669 trillion ≈ ₹3,66,869 crore;

Students’ human-capital loss (annual-equivalent): ₹0.146 trillion ≈ ₹14,586 crore;

Total annual impact (Employed + Students): ₹3.815 trillion (≈ 3.815 lakh crore)!! This is an economic loss of 1 hour of waste utilization without any learning from the content.

Mind-boggling number!! ~96% of the loss is workplace productivity/health; ~4% comes from students’ future-earnings erosion (annualized).

What is it for companies? What is it for schools and parents?

Company: At this scale, even a 1% productivity improvement against the habit is worth ~₹36,800 crore/yr nationally.

Parents: Replace 15 minutes/day of your ward’s time.

Platforms/Regulators: Expand bedtime prompts and session-length frictions; boost rev-share for positive learning content.

Ravi Saripalle

Water Is the Real Currency: Time for a Virtual Water Economy

Dear Friends,

 

I am not a researcher or an economist, but as an inspiration, we published a concept and idea on “The Need for a Virtual Water Currency and Virtual Water Trading System across all Countries” in the context of industrial products. This concept was first published in the Water Supply Journal in 2015 (https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2015.047) and later, in a more mature and specific form, in the Water Policy Journal in 2022 (https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2022.285).

 

You might be wondering why I am sharing this now. The relevance of a Virtual Water Currency and Virtual Water Trading System is more visible today than ever before, particularly in the context of current geopolitics. Whether it is orange or oil, importing or exporting any product involves water usage — from the mining or cultivation stage of raw materials to the final product on the shelf. The total water consumed by a product or service is called virtual water.

 

To give perspective: the virtual water content of rice ranges from 2,500–3,000 liters per kilogram; a single cup of coffee requires 130–140 liters; one pair of jeans, 7,500–10,000 liters; and a smartphone, about 12,000 liters. In industry, the water footprint is often measured per dollar of value added — meaning, “How much water does an economy use to produce USD 1 worth of industrial goods or services?” Globally, this averages 80 liters per USD of industrial product, ~100 L/USD in the U.S., and only 20–25 L/USD in India. If these numbers are incorrect, my sincere apologies due to my limited data access. I am trying to present a context rather than numbers.

 

In our paper, we proposed introducing a Virtual Water Currency alongside existing currencies like the dollar or rupee. Such a currency could help drive sustainability discussions and guide decisions so that we can pass on a livable planet to the next generation. In our second paper, we recommended creating an international Virtual Water–Based Trading System using blockchain to ensure transparency and principle-driven trade.

 

For example, if a smartphone has 100 components sourced from different countries, the assembler could check (via an immutable blockchain record) which components have the lowest virtual water content and highest quality, and choose to import those. Over time, this would build Virtual Water Consciousness among countries and manufacturers.

 

A simple policy or protocol can be defined based on historical evidence and future predictions — but I understand it’s not easy to design such rules, whether for a country, an organization, or an individual. I deliberately put the word “a” in quotes earlier because even a single letter in policy language can change the law and future interpretation. This is why governments and think tanks must be given time and respect for the complexity of their work, instead of facing emotional criticism.

 

To illustrate, you may have seen the Times of India article yesterday — “No income tax for son who sold late mother’s flat for ₹1.45 crore to buy seven houses; how a minor language error helped him”. Before the 2014 amendment, Section 54’s phrase “a residential house” was interpreted by courts to allow long-term capital gains exemption for multiple residential properties, not just one. In this case, the Bombay High Court ruled that his purchase of seven row houses in 1995 qualified for full exemption, as the restriction to “one” house applied only prospectively from AY 2015–16. This demonstrates how a single word in tax law — “a” or “one” — can significantly affect rights.

 

Similarly, we must think about virtual water in our import/export and production decisions, not based on emotions, but on the physical limits of Mother Earth. Readily accessible freshwater for humans, animals, and ecosystems is less than 1% of all freshwater — roughly 0.007% of Earth’s total water. Already, 2 billion people live in water-stressed areas.

 

What is your Virtual Water Consciousness?

 

Ravi Saripalle

You might have heard of Sun Bath, Steam Bath, and Mud Bath. Have you heard of Sound Bath?

Dear Friends,

One female cockroach can produce up to 300–400 offspring. A termite colony can reach millions and cause major structural damage in 3–6 months. What do you do immediately? You call pest control, right? Pest control works not just by killing the pest, but by understanding its pattern, access, and ecosystem.

What is the pest for the body today? Stress and Anxiety.

A couple of days back, I was sitting on my balcony. A father, aged 60–70 years, was consoling his daughter, who works in IT. She was complaining about her manager’s pressure, how she was unable to handle the targets, wanted to change her job, etc. The father was saying that changing jobs was not a permanent solution. Make work agreements clear, communicate properly, and avoid hasty decisions, he advised.

At the age of 15 – study pressure, rank pressure.
At the age of 23 – job selection pressure.
At the age of 25 – package pressure.
At the age of 28 – marriage selection pressure.
At the age of 30 – maintaining family expectations while managing company expectations is pressure.
At the age of 50–70 – new medical problems occur.
From the age of 70+ – leading life itself is pressure.

44% of employees globally experience daily workplace stress. Stress-related burnout costs employers over $300 billion annually.

Where does it lead? Again, to more stress.

The loop works like this:
Stress → Poor Sleep → Weakened Immunity → Low Energy & Mood → Increased Anxiety → More Stress.

In our days, if you visited any village, the entire community would sit at the Ramalayam or any temple or spiritual gathering place. Have you ever experienced a one-hour stay next to a temple bell? Temple bells produce long-resonating frequencies, often between 90–120 Hz, which align with the theta brainwave range (associated with deep meditation and relaxation). The reverberation can last up to 7 seconds and is said to activate all seven chakras in the body. The human body is ~70% water, and sound waves can create microscopic vibrations. They reduce muscular tension and calm the nervous system.

Thanks to the pressure, especially in IT and related industries, companies have started offering “Sound Bath Therapy” or “Music Bath Therapy” for wellness. All participants are immersed in sound waves produced by instruments like gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, tuning forks, chimes, or even the human voice. Unlike a music concert, it's not meant to be watched or danced to—it's meant to be absorbed. These therapists are charging a decent amount to give that experience.

In our ancient system—and even today—if you happen to be in a Krishna temple, devotees sing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. They repeat this mantra with kartals (hand cymbals), mridanga drums, and often a collective voice, continuously for 1–2 hours or more. Repeating a mantra multiple times entrains your mind to a single frequency, reducing distraction, anxiety, and thought clutter. The effect is similar to deep meditation—but with sound as the anchor instead of silence.

Instruments like the veena, violin, or tanpura produce continuous, droning, or resonant notes. I am requesting a few of my relatives to get deep into this kind of work and bring a platform so that people can play and listen in isolation.

Indian wisdom has always been ahead of its time. We lost touch with it for a while and are now rediscovering the same truths in new forms—be it Ayurveda, yoga, chanting, or sustainable living itself.

Are you experiencing this syndrome?

Ravi Saripalle

From Cross-Sector AI to Cross-Species Empathy: Lessons from Fusion AI Summit 2025

Dear Friends,

Over the last two days, I had the opportunity to contribute to the Fusion AI Summit 2025 in two unique capacities:

As a moderator, I led the panel “Cross-Sectoral AI: Driving Innovation and Efficiency Across Industries.”

And as a panel speaker, I joined the discussion on “Building the AI Skilling Ecosystem: Preparing for the Future Workforce.”

My favourite reflection from the stage:

“We don’t need AI that thinks like us—we need AI that understands who we serve.”

Among the many thought-provoking conversations, one unexpected story truly stood out for its depth, humanity, and vision—the way AI is being deployed at Vantara, the 3,000-acre animal rescue and conservation project by Reliance Industries in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

Led by Anant Mukesh Ambani, Vantara is one of the world’s largest and most advanced animal care centers—a sanctuary, hospital, and habitat all in one.

What amazed me was how AI is being used to:

• Track animal health metrics in real time using wearables and computer vision

• Monitor behavioral patterns across rescued species

• Predict disease outbreaks using environmental and biometric signals

It’s a perfect example of AI not replacing humans—but augmenting compassion with precision where veterinarians meet data scientists. Where sensors translate into empathy.

At a time when AI is largely discussed in the context of profits, platforms, and productivity, Vantara reminds us that AI can also serve life itself.

One of the most touching stories came from Dr. Madan Dabbeeru (PhD in Cognitive Robotics), who is part of the Vantara effort.

He shared how, through cognitive systems and observational AI, the team discovered how elephants “talk” to each other—from a mother elephant “checking in” with the father about their calf, to entire herds sharing stress signals across long distances.

Even more moving was the story of bears exhibiting suicidal behavior—triggered by digestive pain from being unable to defecate. The solution? Biologists designed a calming behavioural therapy using bananas placed in 8-shaped circles, gradually guiding the bears toward water, restoring both their physical and emotional balance.

These stories reminded me that AI isn’t just about automation—it’s about deeper observation. About translating the language of life.

Maybe it’s time we develop similar AI-powered systems for humans—ones that detect stress, anxiety, or cognitive overload not just through wearables, but through subtle cues in speech, silence, posture, or interaction patterns.

As of 2019, more than 970 million people—1 in 8 globally—were living with a mental health disorder. That number is likely rising as technology accelerates our pace, but not always our peace.

We don’t just need smarter machines—we need more emotionally intelligent systems. Ones that nudge us to pause, breathe, and heal. Because sometimes, the most humane thing AI can do…is remind us to be human.

Ravi Saripalle

Running for Life, Not Just for Food: A Reflection on Purpose

Dear Friends,

This morning, as soon as I woke up, I received a message:

“In a race between a lion and a deer, many times the deer wins because the lion runs for food and the deer runs for its life — the purpose is more than the need.”

Hope you are all aware of these facts. A daily wage laborer from Bihar, Dashrath Manjhi, carved a 110-meter-long path through a mountain using just a hammer and chisel — over 22 years — to ensure no one else would suffer like his wife, who died due to lack of timely medical access. At age 29, Chhonzin Angmo from Himachal Pradesh became the first visually impaired woman to summit Everest on May 19. Losing sight at age eight, she defied medical uncertainty and societal barriers. Her ascent exemplifies how purpose lights the path through the darkest challenges.

Today, the purpose is fading. It should be part of education. Fifteen years ago, when I was part of the startup ideas jury, we used to get grounded ideas like how to improve agricultural productivity and profitability. In recent times, most of the ideas are on travel, how to make better reels, or just to run entertainment goals. The reason is that they are not fighting on Maslow’s Theory (from bottom to top) — Physiological Needs and Safety Needs. The people taking up entrepreneurship competitions are mostly middle-class, upper-middle-class, or rich. Hence, their focus is mostly on Belongingness and Love (relationships, social connection), Esteem (respect, recognition, status), and Self-Actualization (growth, fulfilment). This is the difference. If the bottom of the pyramid takes up entrepreneurship, it is mostly for survival — feeding the stomach for that day or week. They never pitch but simply act. However, many times, they cannot grow beyond a point, except for a few exceptions.

Social and Rural Immersion programs in educational settings are mere tour visits or credit-scoring visits for many of them. As parents, we should also keep a bar on how much we transfer our wealth to our children. We should not build assets for their future comforts. This process hampers their thought process. They cannot think below a certain point. We should provide good education, good food and medication, and, at most, a liveable place, if possible. In my view, beyond a point, if we provide too much, one generation is saved, but in the next two to three generations, they return to the normal stage, except for a few exceptions.

Of course, preaching is easy, but practicing is tough! Sometimes, our attachments and natural instincts do not cooperate. However, consciously, we need to keep this conversation alive at home; otherwise, we are providing a shell without substance. Recently, I was listening to a conversation. A boy got an IIT seat but was unable to pay the ₹1.5 lakh first-year fee. He went from pillar to post to get this ₹1.5 lakh and took a loan for the rest of the three years. His mother’s monthly income was less than ₹10,000. The same boy later qualified for the civil services.

When we don’t have something, we come to know its value in that absence. A few weeks ago, I was having pain in my leg. I was barely able to walk. At that time, I came to know the value of a single nerve connecting my ankle. Personally, I know a boy who is intelligent. Everything was going normally. However, his father suddenly passed away due to a heart attack. His whole educational plan became a big block. All the savings were utilized for medical bills. Now, the boy, on his own, at the age of 17, is trying to join a school, keeping the budget at the center. I am sure he will be most successful, as he is getting a life education, which is the foundation for any college education.

Did you hear any such inspiring stories?

Ravi Saripalle