Dhanada K Mishra, Hong Kong, 9 July 2025
I never imagined I’d become an AI evangelist. My career began in the rigid world of structural engineering—concrete densities, load-bearing calculations, and the occasional existential crisis about building safety. As a visiting research scholar at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, I spent a few years researching and guiding research on how to assess infrastructure the old-fashioned way: with clipboards, callipers, and educated guesswork. Then, on a humid afternoon in 2021, everything changed. I watched RaSpect – an AI startup, demonstrate how drones equipped with computer vision could detect ‘microfractures’ in a building facade, flaws our human eyes would easily miss in a conventional visual inspection. That moment felt like seeing the future crash into the present.
When I joined RaSpect Intelligence Inspections, I discovered the world was already on the verge of an AI revolution. My main intention of taking up a challenging role at RaSpect where I had to learn the fundamentals of AI from scratch, was to have a deep understanding of the subject. The other objective was to bring its AI technology to India and particularly to Odisha while helping RaSpect to go global. In this context, the recently released Odisha Artificial Intelligence Policy – 2025 couldn’t have come any sooner. It reads like a playbook inspired by global best practices—America’s private-sector dynamism, China’s strategic infrastructure investments, and the EU’s ethical frameworks—but tailored to Odisha’s unique challenges. I recognised immediately how our work at RaSpect and local partner DKM Consult aligned perfectly with the policy’s vision. Our AI-powered structural inspections of buildings in Bhubaneswar weren’t just technical demonstrations—they were proving how machine learning could save lives in a state where much of the infrastructure damage comes from predictable disasters such as cyclones and floods.
The parallels between my recent journey and Odisha’s planned AI transformation are interesting. Just as I had to unlearn decades of engineering dogma to embrace neural networks, the state is now retraining its workforce through ambitious programs like embedding AI curricula in 90% of schools by 2036. There are similar plans proposed in the policy for the higher education sector as well as working professionals. When we launched RaSpect’s training initiative at KMBB College of Engineering last year, I met students who’d never coded before but could soon train models to predict concrete failure, mirroring Odisha’s target of 18,000 AI-skilled workers annually. Several bright students trained by us are now providing invaluable support to help train RaSpect’s AI models to recognise many types of building defects from drone data acquired in Hong Kong, Singapore, the USA or even Europe.
Globally, AI policies often get stuck between corporate hype and bureaucratic inertia. Thankfully, the Odisha policy has benefited greatly from widespread consultations with many different groups of stakeholders. What is promising about Odisha’s strategy is its grounding in practical applications—whether using AI to optimise irrigation for small farmers or deploying chatbots in Odia for maternal healthcare. The policy’s emphasis on ethical frameworks also resonates deeply with global best practice. Data security and privacy protection must be the backbone of any robust AI model that can be endorsed by public authorities and widely adopted. Hong Kong and Singapore, where RaSpect has many projects, are at the forefront of such practices.
India has a tremendous advantage in terms of its youthful population and lower costs. Properly trained and given the right opportunities, these advantages can propel the country to the forefront of the AI age that is upon us. If anything, I feel the targets set by the AI policy are not ambitious enough. The youth today are restless and eager to learn. They will get there much faster than the state envisages with or without its help. My journey from a sceptical academic to AI convert mirrors Odisha’s own transition—from seeing technology as an abstract concept to wielding it as a tool for tangible change.
About 15 years ago, I was part of the Odisha State Higher Education Task Force that produced the Higher Education Policy, which resulted in many path-breaking reforms, such as several new state Universities, world-class skill education, among others. One expects similar results from the new AI policy. It may need an ‘AI Tzar’ for effective implementation, such as a Sam Pitroda or a Nandan Nilkeni, or a Subroto Bagchi – a technocrat with vision and drive for effective implementation. Sam Pitroda, with his roots from Odisha, helped transform India through Rajiv Gandhi’s Technology Missions. Nandan Nilkeni made a huge contribution through his idea of a Unique ID, which is the basis of the India Stack that underpins many of the technologies we use daily, such as the UPI payment. Most recently, our very own Subroto Bagchi played a key role in transforming Odisha’s skill education sector, which has brought laurels for the state while giving much-needed dignity to our talented young technicians and tradesmen, and women. Who will lead Odisha’s transformation using AI is going to be a billion-dollar question and may determine the fate of the policy in the coming years.
RaSpect’s AI engineer is a young engineer in his early twenties who trains our models using data annotated and curated by his team of data scientists, working sometimes from remote rural locations in Odisha. Together, they are rapidly learning on the job and are happy to train the interns and conduct hands-on workshops on college campuses to attract bright young talents to intern with them. Once they are exposed to the possibilities of AI, the fresh minds are off to the races, and millions of ideas and hundreds of startups are being born daily. There is a global race for leadership in AI. The future isn’t just coming; with the right policies and pioneers, Odisha might just help write it.
