I Am Not a Scientist, I Am Not a Doctor—I Am Just a Dad! How AI Is Making Everyone a Digital Native!

Dear Friends,

This week, the whole world talked about AI! France and India co-hosted the AI Action Summit, where our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi Ji, began his speech with an AI hallucination and AI flaw experiment. 

He stated:
"When asked to generate an image of a person writing with their left hand, AI systems typically depict someone using their right hand instead. This happens because AI models are primarily trained on data from right-handed individuals, making it difficult for them to accurately represent left-handed behavior." (ndtv.com)

However, if we provide a detailed prompt—similar to how we instruct a five-year-old child, saying, "Please write with your left hand,"—then AI generates the correct image!

Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s talk was equally fascinating! He shared how his parents were amazed when he took them to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge in Waymo, a driverless car. His father, who is now in his 80s, sat in the front seat, experiencing this groundbreaking technology with excitement!

At the end of his speech, Sundar Pichai showed a powerful video demonstrating how AI is making a difference in people’s lives. The video featured a father trying to understand his son Max’s medical condition—Alexander’s disease—a rare disorder I had never heard of before. It has no cure, no treatment. Yet, for a loving father, doing nothing was not an option.

Determined to find answers, he turned to Gemini AI (Google’s AI engine) and uploaded all of Max’s medical records as PDFs. Gemini analyzed the data, connected it to relevant scientific papers, and revealed a surprising insight: Alexander’s disease has parallels with Alzheimer’s disease. The father discovered a group of researchers working on this condition. The next morning, he received an email from one of them!

What an incredible world we are stepping into—where intent is converted into action!

What Does This Mean?

An ordinary father, empowered by AI, can work alongside scientists and doctors! As we enter the AI Era, we move beyond the Stone Age, Ancient Age (Bronze Age, Iron Age, Classical Age), Medieval Age, and Modern Age (Renaissance, Industrial Age, Information Age). Now, we are stepping into the AI Age!

Are you ready to welcome the AI Age?
– Ravi Saripalle

Global Village or Local Continent? Which Direction Are We Heading?

Dear Friends,

Yesterday (07 February 2025), Nature published an article titled “Have Trump’s anti-DEI orders hit private funders? HHMI halts inclusive science programme.” The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a major funder of biomedical research, has cut a $60-million initiative aimed at boosting diversity in science education. As a result, it has terminated grants to 104 U.S. universities approximately midway through a six-year funding cycle—without any explanation.

This is not an isolated case. The new U.S. tariffs will have a spiraling effect on the world economy. The U.S. has imposed a steep 25% tariff on most imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10% levy on all imports from China. In response, Canada, China, and Mexico have implemented identical levies on U.S. imports.

Visual Capitalist recently published an interesting article highlighting the risks: “Hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese and U.S. products are at stake. These include electronics and textile exports from China to the U.S. and agricultural and oil and gas exports in the opposite direction. Additionally, a trade war could lead to significant job losses in the export economies of both countries.”

Just last week, we submitted a proposal to USAID. Surprisingly, within minutes of submission, we received news that USAID is facing scrutiny. The resulting budget cuts have disrupted the lives of its 10,000 employees and the thousands of contractors working with them (Economic Times, Feb 07, 2025).

This shift towards localization will also impact students aspiring to pursue master’s degrees abroad. Many of our software service companies rely heavily on global contracts, and these changes will undoubtedly affect fresher hiring.

What does this mean? While globalization is still talked about, the world is increasingly moving towards localization. The troubling aspect of this shift is that, regardless of how many years you live in a place, you remain geo-tagged to your place of birth, and your original identity often determines your future.

Ancient Indian wisdom, as quoted in the Maha Upanishad (Chapter 6), reminds us:
अयं निजः परो वेति गणना लघुचेतसाम्। उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्॥
(Ayam Nijah Paro Veti Ganana Laghucetasam, Udaracaritanam Tu Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.)

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam—"The world is one family"—is not limited to humanity alone. It encompasses all life forms: humans, animals, plants, and the entire natural world. It reflects a cosmic vision—One Earth, One Family, One Future.

Perhaps the Lord has His own plan for every living entity on this earth. Let us wait and see how He unfolds it.

Ravi Saripalle

From Cradle to Cane- The Triple Crisis- Living Longer, Birthing Less, and Growing Apart!!

Dear Friends,

Globally, people above 65 years old are the fastest-growing segments of the population. In 2019, for the first time in human history, they outnumbered children younger than 5 years old (Nature , 2021). Fertility rates are near or below the 2.1 replacement level in all regions. On top of this burden, there is a surge in the number of nuclear families and single-person households! According to data from Kantar, nearly 50 percent of all households in India are nuclear (1-4 members). I am sure that outside India, this number would be much higher!

This phenomenon is nothing but the water under the mat!! By 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over. At this time, the share of the population aged 60 years and over will increase from 1 billion in 2020 to 1.4 billion—equivalent to the size of India!!

Today, 28% of the Japanese population is over 65 years of age. By 2039, this figure is expected to reach 40%. This means that pensioners will account for nearly half of the country’s population. South Korea's birth rate has dropped to 0.72, the lowest in the world.

There is no easy solution to simultaneously solve the fertility crisis, aging crisis, and family support crisis. In fact, everyone is missing another bigger crisis: the late fertility crisis.

Consider this hypothetical situation—I am 70 years old. I am retired and living on a few funds created over a period of time. I have a daughter aged 25 years old. She wants to marry at the age of 30 or 35. By that time, I will be 75 years old. I am diabetic, have a few chronic diseases, and need assistance. As newlyweds, it is not practically feasible for them to give support to aging parents. They are in a fluid state with all their career planning and lifestyle choices, and they want to live independently. My funds are currently managed by people with short-term thinking, and returns are unpredictable, which adds to my anxiety. My life expectancy is increasing due to life-saving medicines, but my quality of life is decreasing due to constant health issues, social anxiety, and depression.

This situation is alarming! However, Young startups can innovatively design AgeTech Solutions. Geriatric services are going to become a huge market if someone ventures into it. National Pension Schemes should be more responsible. If they are giving an average return of 8%, and inflation goes to 6% on average, with only 2% income left, how do we lead our lives?

When a startup designs a solution, it needs to consider all socio-economic, health, environmental, legal, cultural, and technical aspects in one go and design a Unified Solution- They should take care of my bed and food together without my involvement. This is the kind of complexity & opportunity involved in this domain!!

A Grand Granny Challenge for Future Geriatricpreneurs!!!

Ravi Saripalle