Raktim Singh

Facebook Youtube Linkedin

What is 3D Printed House

Raktim Singh
-
0
What is 3D Printed House

Step into a realm where imagination takes shape, where ideas materialize with a touch
of a button. Welcome to the world of 3D printing, a revolutionary technology that has
captured the minds of innovators and makers alike.

In this article, we embark on an exhilarating journey to explore the fascinating domain of
3D printing.

From its awe-inspiring features and historical milestones to its boundless potential and
real-world applications, join us as we uncover the transformative power of this
groundbreaking technology.

What is 3D Printing:

At its core, 3D printing is a manufacturing process that creates three-dimensional
objects by adding successive layers of material, guided by a digital model. It offers a
transformative way to turn digital designs into physical objects with precision and
efficiency.

History of 3D Printing:

The roots of 3D printing can be traced back to the 1980s when Charles Hull invented
stereolithography, a technique that paved the way for the modern era of 3D printing.

Since then, important milestones have included the development of Selective Laser
Sintering (SLS) by Carl Deckard and the introduction of fused deposition modeling
(FDM) by Scott Crump, which made 3D printing more accessible to a wider audience.

What is 3D printed house?

3D printed houses are constructed using 3D printing technology. Here, 3D printer uses
a CAD (Computer Aided Design) drawing to create a physical structure. It puts out layers
using input material.

Things required here are
1. CAD drawing or files which contain blueprint of the building
2. 3D construction printer
3. A material supply system
4. Input material

We should note here that 3D construction printer mainly builds the house’s basic
structure. Other parts like installation of windows, doors, electrical system, plumbing etc.
needs to get done post that.

This technology can be used to build industrial, commercial, and public buildings.

 

How to make 3D Printed House:

These are the 4 steps, which are involved here.

1. Blueprint of the building: One need to prepare the blueprint of the proposed
building. This can be done with CAD software. This contains, detailed description
of the building, including exact measurement of each component, description
about the placement of doors, windows etc.
Now various software like Onshape, Blender etc. are available, which can help
one prepare a full design of the house.

Post finalization of the design, another software converts the detailed design into printable file.
This file will be used by 3D printer at the site.
By this time, based on the design, one can also estimate the total time and
material, which will be required for that building.

2. Preparation at site: Now, required material and 3D printer can be installed at site.
Some other equipment like pump, different nozzles etc. can be placed at site.
Based on the digital blueprint design, the 3D printer will dispense a paste-like
mixture. This paster can consist of mortar, concrete, cement blend, sand, special
polymers or bio-resins, like soil, clay or wood flour, which is a fine sawdust mixed
with a corn-based binder.

Also, we may require human experts at site to monitor the overall work as well as to cut
holes etc. for plumbing, electrical wiring, doors and windows.

3. Building the walls: We can say that at this stage, we are printing the walls. Based
on the design, nozzle of the printer, build the layers of the wall.

Now, the digital design is sliced into thin layers, which are sequentially printed by the 3D
printer layer by layer, using various materials such as plastics, metals, ceramics, or even
biomaterials.
Typically, for a house, total 150 layers are added with each layer being .75 inch thick.
That way, one can prepare a 9-foot wall.
The point to note here is that though 3D printers can work 24/7, we need to set a time
interval between each layer. This helps in the current layer gaining strength, getting hard
enough before the next layer is put.
Based on the design, size or the direction, the nozzle needs to get changed during this
process.

Also, after the wall is built (printed), enough water is sprayed on the wall and in some
cases, it’s covered in plastic etc. so that the wall gets enough moisturizer. That’s important
for the overall strength of the wall as well as in making sure that in future, no cracks etc.
develop in that wall.

4. Post printing installations: Once the walls are printed and dried enough, other
parts like doors, window panels, electricity, plumbing etc. is done now. Any other
finishing touch can be provided at this stage.

What is Onshape :

Onshape is a cloud-native product development platform. This contains full-featured CAD, integrated PDM and enterprise analytics in a single system.

One can create the design with this and later this design can be reviewed on the computer from all angles and relevant changes can be made.

What is Blender:

Blender supports 3D printing modeling, 3D Printing Toolbox and real-time Mesh Analysis features.

Advantages of 3D printed house

1. Unleashing Creativity: With 3D printing, intricate and complex designs that were
once thought impossible can now be transformed into tangible objects,
empowering creativity and pushing the boundaries of innovation.
With various software, one can prepare a detailed design and get it reviewed with
the consumers, prospects, etc..
It’s like a dream come true like situation. Any type of house design can be
prepared and later given shape with 3D printer. Design possibilities are endless
here.
With 3D printer, curved foundations, walls with various type of design can be built at a
fraction of the cost. 3D printing liberates designers from the constraints of traditional
manufacturing, enabling the creation of intricate and customized objects that were
previously impractical or impossible to produce.

2. Customization at Scale: 3D printing allows for the production of personalized and
tailored products on a mass scale, revolutionizing industries such as healthcare,
fashion, and manufacturing.

3. Cost and Effort savings: One need to spend good effort during the design but actual
execution ( printing) can happen very fast. Also, as there is almost zero waste (
of construction material), saving of 10-40% is noticed in these housing projects.

By eliminating the need for molds, tooling, and complex assembly processes, 3D
printing reduces production costs and lead times, particularly for low-volume or
custom-made products.

4. Quick and efficient — 3D printers can work 24/7 or without taking any leave. Lot
of buildings can be prepared within days.

5. Recycling and Sustainability: This technology has the potential to reduce waste
and environmental impact by enabling the recycling and repurposing of materials,
promoting a more sustainable approach to production.

We can say that a low-waste, computerized houses can be built from an industrial-scale
printer at very low cost.

 

Disadvantages of 3D Printed House

1. Big upfront costs: Here, one need to have proper software for preparing the
blueprint of the house. Also, Industrial 3D printer cost a lot. 3D printing is good if
one is preparing many houses of the same type.
It means, one can prepare the design, get it thoroughly reviewed and after that,
almost like an assembly line, houses can be printed. But if you are building only
one house, then total cost may not justify.

2. Need of experts along with careful planning:  This is to make sure that
post printing of the walls, other equipment (door, window..) are fitted properly.
Point to note here is that once 3D printer starts printing, building the walls etc.,
making further changes in the design or in the final property will be very costly.

 

EXAMPLE OF 3D PRINTED HOUSE

1. KAMP C: Belgian company Kamp C, has built 3D house.
2. MENSE-KORTE : Located in Beckum, Germany, Mense-Korte has built houses
with 3D printing.
3. BIOHOME3D : The University of Maine Advanced Structures and Composites
Center is building this.
4. HOUSE ZERO : ICON, along with architectural firm Lake|Flato has built a three-
bedroom two-and-a-half bath residence just outside of downtown Austin, Texas.
5. In India, Tvasta Manufacturing Solutions, a startup which is founded by IIT
Madras has built 3d Printed houses.

Important Features of 3D Printing:

a) Material Versatility: 3D printing supports a wide range of materials, including plastics,
metals, ceramics, and composites, offering versatility and adaptability across different
industries.
b) Complexity and Precision: The technology allows for the creation of highly intricate
and complex geometries with high precision, enabling the production of objects with
intricate details and fine finishes.

c) Rapid Prototyping: 3D printing accelerates the product development process by
enabling rapid prototyping, reducing time and costs associated with traditional
manufacturing methods.

Technologies Related to 3D printing:

3D printing intersects with various other technologies, including CAD software, 3D
scanning, and generative design. Understanding these technologies enhances the
capabilities and potential applications of 3D printing.

Other Use Cases of 3D Printing:

a) Healthcare: 3D printing has enabled the production of patient-specific medical
implants, prosthetics, and anatomical models for surgical planning, leading to improved
patient outcomes and personalized care.

b) Aerospace: The aerospace industry leverages 3D printing to create lightweight and
complex components, reducing weight, and enhancing fuel efficiency in aircraft.

c) Education: 3D printing in educational settings promotes creativity, problem-solving,
and hands-on learning. Students can bring their ideas to life, fostering innovation and
practical skills.

Companies Using 3D Printing:

a) Stratasys: A prominent player in the 3D printing industry, Stratasys offers a wide
range of printers and materials for various applications, from prototyping to production.

b) 3D Systems: Known for its advanced 3D printing technologies, 3D Systems provides
solutions for industries such as healthcare, aerospace, and automotive.

c) Formlabs: Formlabs specializes in desktop stereolithography 3D printers, catering to
professionals and enthusiasts, and empowering creativity and innovation.

Industries Using 3D Printing:

Apart from construction industry, many other industries have also joined the 3D printing
bandwagon.
a) Automotive: The automotive industry employs 3D printing for prototyping, customized
parts, and tooling, enabling faster product development and enhancing vehicle
performance.
b) Fashion and Design: 3D printing revolutionizes fashion and design by enabling the
creation of avant-garde garments, intricate jewelry, and customizable accessories.

Industries with Potential for 3D Printing Adoption:

Industries such as consumer goods, electronics, and entertainment are poised to
benefit from the adoption of 3D printing. Its ability to create unique, customized products
aligns well with the demands of these sectors.

The Future of 3D Printed House:

The future of 3D printing holds immense potential, from advancing the production of
functional end-use parts to enabling the printing of human tissues and organs for
medical purposes.
As the technology continues to evolve, we can anticipate increased efficiency, expanded
material options, and further integration with other advanced technologies.

With this, we can provide affordable houses to all sectors of society, quickly and in a cost efficient way.

Conclusion:

In the realm of manufacturing, 3D printing has emerged as a transformative force,
redefining the possibilities of creation and production.

Its ability to bring digital designs to life, with customization and precision, opens new doors across industries, from healthcare and aerospace to education and beyond.

As this revolutionary technology continues to evolve, it will reshape the way we think
about manufacturing, fueling innovation, sustainability, and boundless creativity.

With this, houses at mass scale can be built very efficiently & in a cost-effective way.

So, let us step into the realm of 3D printing and witness the magic of turning dreams
into reality, one layer at a time.

What is Artificial Intelligence with examples

Raktim Singh
-
1
What is Artificial Intelligence with examples

Some interesting facts about Artificial Intelligence

1. Sophia is humanoid Robot. Sophia made its first public appearance in
2016.
In 2017, Sophia was granted Saudi Arabian citizenship. Also, in that
year, Sophia was named United Nations Development Program’s first
Innovation Champion.

2. Google claimed to have created AI capable of designing computer
chips much faster than humans. While human take days or months to
design a Chip, AI can design the Chip in around 6 hours.

3. Artificial Intelligence can predict earthquakes, volcanoes etc. With
proper training data (seismic data), AI can help us in identifying the
magnitude and location of the earthquake.

4. AI –>Good for environment? Lot of computing power is required to
train an AI model. As per one research, the carbon footprint of
training a single AI is as much as 284 tons of carbon dioxide
equivalent.

But on the other hand, AI self-driving cars, for instance, may reduce
emissions by 50 percent by 2050 by identifying the most efficient routes.

5. Most AI Bots are Female.

Studies show that most of the population prefer the sound of a female voice
over a male voice. It is because if you ask voice assistants like Alexa, Siri a
question, you will be answered by a pleasant and polite woman’s voice.

World of computers and Internet: 

In the world of computers, we need to understand the advantage, definition
of various things.

To start with,
a. A computer is a machine, which can capture the data, process the
data, and store the data.

b. An Internet is the way to transfer data from a machine to another
machine.
In both cases, data can be of any type that is structured data or un-
structured data. It can be a file, word document, picture, video byte, audio
file….

On similar line, machine can be of any type (smart phone, smart watch,
computer…).
Majority of the technological advancements are related to capture of data,
management of data, storage of data or presentation of data in various
forms (Internet of Things, Big data, Cloud, Blockchain, Virtual Reality or
Augmented Reality..).

But artificial Intelligence is different. It is about ‘Making a meaning of the
data, learning from that meaning and improving itself’.
That’s why AI is considered very powerful.

 

World of Artificial Intelligence

Imagine a world where machines possess the power of human intelligence.
A world where computers can understand, learn, and make decisions just
like us. This remarkable concept is none other than Artificial Intelligence
(AI).
Let’s embark on a captivating exploration of AI, unraveling its fascinating
nature and discovering its potential impact on our lives.

What is Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence is the cutting-edge field of computer science that
bestows machines with human-like intelligence, enabling them to learn,
reason, and make decisions.
It harnesses the power of algorithms and data to mimic human cognitive
functions and solve complex problems, revolutionizing various industries
and transforming the way we live.

Different parts of Artificial Intelligence:

Artificial Intelligence is all about, making a meaning from a set of data.
AI contains many parts.

1. Un-supervised Learning: Here machine tries to find out pattern
(cluster, group..) within a data set.

2. Supervised Learning: Here, user supplies labelled data to Machine.
Based on that machine learns and start identifying pattern/objects in
a new data set.

3. Reinforcement Learning: Here, there is no defined framework.
It works mainly on ‘reward and punishment’ model.
We can say that machines keep on trying and learning. Here machine
dynamically learns by adjusting actions based in continuous feedback
to maximize a reward.
Machines acquire knowledge from data and adapt their behavior
accordingly.

4. Deep Learning: Here machine is learning from a training set and then
applying that learning to a new data set.
5. Natural Language Processing (NLP): Here machine can understand,
interpret, and respond to human language.

History of Artificial Intelligence:

The journey of AI begins around 1950 when pioneers like Alan Turing and
John McCarthy laid the groundwork for this revolutionary field.
Important milestones include the development of expert systems in the
1970s, the birth of machine learning in the 1980s, and the rise of deep
learning in recent years.
Prominent companies like IBM, Google, and Microsoft have played
significant roles in advancing AI research and applications.

How Artificial Intelligence Works:

At its core, AI relies on algorithms and computational models to process
vast amounts of data and extract meaningful patterns.
Machine learning algorithms train on data, enabling machines to recognize
patterns and make predictions or decisions.
Deep learning, a subset of machine learning, utilizes neural networks
inspired by the human brain to solve complex tasks. AI systems learn
iteratively, refining their performance with each interaction and continuously
improving their accuracy.
In AI world, developers use various languages like Python, Julia, R, Java,
and C++.
In AI programming, these four things are kept in focus:

1. Learning: At this stage, data is acquired, accumulated from
various sources and rules (or algorithms) are defined to take
relevant actions.
2. Reasoning: Here, AI focuses on choosing the right algorithm to
reach a desired goal.
3. Self-correction: In this stage, AI keep on continuously fine-tune
algorithms. We can say that by this process, AI is continuously
improving itself.
4. Creativity: Here, AI uses statistical methods, neural networks,
rule-based systems etc. to generate new data. That data can
be a new text, new image, new music or altogether a new idea.
Note that, here one needs to understand the statistical method. So,
based on data, which was used to train AI, it can suggest words to
complete a sentence.

Application of Artificial Intelligence:

Based on the things mentioned earlier, we can see various applications of
AI like

1. Object Recognition: AI leverages computer vision to enable
machines to analyze and understand visual data, enabling
applications like image recognition and object detection.

2. Robotics: AI and robotics converge to create intelligent machines
capable of autonomous actions and human-like interactions.

3. Autonomous Machines: AI has empowered machines to perform
tasks autonomously, from self-driving cars navigating through busy
streets to robots assisting in intricate surgeries.

4. Language translation: AI is helping in almost accurate language
translation. So, hand, we can use those ‘translators’ tools’ to translate
from one human spoken language to another (Spanish to English or
English to Hindi).

Apart from that AI is also getting used to understand various voices made
by animals. In future, that will be helpful in understating what various
animals are trying to say.

5. Personal recommendation on any e-commerce site.
Apart from that, AI-driven recommendation systems power platforms
like Netflix and Spotify, analyzing user preferences and behavior to
suggest tailored content.

6. Better inventory management based on historical purchase/sale data
in a shop.
7. Streamlining the factory worker or construction worker physical
movement at site, so that they need not run around un-necessarily to
collect tools, input material which are required for their work.
8. Streamlining Vehicle movement for cargo delivery and saving on
fuels.

Apart from that, Self-driving cars employ AI technologies such as computer
vision and machine learning to navigate roads, detect obstacles, and make
real-time decisions.

9. Able to sort out recyclable items from waste.
10. Helping human worker, who are working at hazardous,
dangerous locations.
11. Helping farmers by collecting the data related to soil, pesticide
in that field and providing valuable inputs. On similar lines, help in
picking ripe fruits from trees at correct time.
12. Helping companies to discover Oil, Gold and other precious
minerals by helping them in (almost) accurately *identifying the
location, where companies should drill.

13. Sentiment Analysis by going through various social media posts
as well as feedback on website. By that a company can know the
actual reaction of customer related to its product and services.
14. Help banks in assessing the credit worthiness of a borrower.
Machine can scan through various document and go through the
social profile of borrower. Post that, it can arrive at score, credit rating
for a person.

15. Spam detection: Based on sender name, title and action taken
by user on similar type of mail in the past, machine can determine
whether a new mail comes into the category of spam mail or no.

16. AI can help in content curation by doing spell check etc. as well
as can remove the objectionable items, passage from the content.

17. Virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant utilize AI
and NLP to understand and respond to human voice commands,
facilitating various tasks and queries.

Advantages of Artificial Intelligence:

AI offers a myriad of benefits across various domains:

a) Automation: AI automates repetitive and mundane tasks, freeing up
human resources for more creative and strategic endeavors.
b) Enhanced Decision Making: AI systems can process and analyze vast
amounts of data, providing valuable insights and facilitating informed
decision-making.
c) Improved Efficiency and Accuracy: AI-powered machines can perform
tasks with incredible speed and precision, reducing errors and increasing
overall efficiency.

Other Technologies Related to Artificial Intelligence:

AI intersects with several emerging technologies, including:
a) Internet of Things (IoT): AI and IoT together enable smart devices
to gather and process data, creating intelligent, interconnected
systems.
b) Blockchain: AI and blockchain integration can enhance the security,
transparency, and efficiency of AI systems, ensuring data integrity
and privacy.
c) Cloud Computing and Big Data: For AI to do complete processing
and improve the algorithm, it requires lot of data as well as computing
power.

Apart from that, one should get knowledge about machine learning and deep learning.

You can read my articles related to these at

raktimsingh.com/machine-learning/

raktimsingh.com/what-is-deep-learning/

What Artificial Intelligence Doesn’t Contain:

AI is a powerful tool but lacks certain human qualities:
a) Consciousness: AI lacks self-awareness and doesn’t possess
consciousness or subjective experiences.
b) Emotional Intelligence: While AI can analyze emotions in humans, it
doesn’t experience emotions itself.
c) Common Sense: AI systems struggle with common-sense reasoning
and may misinterpret context without explicit instructions.

When You Should Not Use Artificial Intelligence:

While AI offers numerous advantages, there are situations where
alternative approaches may be more suitable:

a) High Stakes Decision-Making: In critical scenarios with significant
consequences, human expertise and judgment may be preferable
over AI’s predictive capabilities.

b) Ethical Dilemmas: AI systems may struggle with complex ethical
decisions that require empathy, compassion, and understanding.

c) Unavailable or Inaccurate Data: AI’s performance heavily relies on the
quality and availability of data. In cases where relevant data is limited or
biased, alternative approaches may be necessary.

Companies Using Artificial Intelligence:

a) Google: Google employs AI across its wide range of products, from
Google Search to Google Assistant. It utilizes AI for natural language
processing, image recognition, and personalized recommendations.
b) Amazon: Amazon’s AI powers its recommendation system, voice-
controlled devices like Echo, and the automation of its warehouses with
robots.
c) Tesla: Tesla's vehicles incorporate AI for self-driving capabilities, using
complex algorithms to analyze sensor data and make informed decisions
on the road.

Industries Using Artificial Intelligence:

a) Healthcare: AI is transforming healthcare through applications like
disease diagnosis, drug discovery, and personalized medicine.
b) Finance: AI is revolutionizing the finance industry by enabling fraud
detection, algorithmic trading, and customer service chatbots.

c) Manufacturing: AI-driven robotics and automation enhance productivity
and quality control in manufacturing processes.

Industries That Can Further Benefit from Artificial Intelligence:

a) Education: AI can personalize education, adapt curriculum, and provide
intelligent tutoring, fostering individualized and effective learning
experiences.
b) Agriculture: AI can optimize crop yields, monitor soil conditions, and
enable precision farming, ensuring sustainable and efficient agricultural
practices.
c) Retail: AI can enhance customer experience through personalized
recommendations, inventory management, and autonomous checkout
systems.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence:

As AI continues to evolve, we can expect its integration into more aspects
of our lives. It holds immense potential in areas like healthcare,
transportation, and environmental sustainability.
However, ethical considerations, data privacy, and responsible AI
development will remain critical to its future success.

Conclusion:

Artificial Intelligence has emerged as a groundbreaking technology,
empowering machines with human-like intelligence and capabilities.

Its remarkable progress and potential have revolutionized various
industries and transformed the way we live and interact with technology.

As we venture into the future, the responsible and ethical development of
AI will shape its impact, ensuring a harmonious coexistence between
humans and intelligent machines.

Enterprise AI Operating Model

Enterprise AI scale requires four interlocking planes:

Read about Enterprise AI Operating Model The Enterprise AI Operating Model: How organizations design, govern, and scale intelligence safely — Raktim Singh

  1. Read about Enterprise Control Tower The Enterprise AI Control Tower: Why Services-as-Software Is the Only Way to Run Autonomous AI at Scale — Raktim Singh
  2. Read about Decision Clarity The Shortest Path to Scalable Enterprise AI Autonomy Is Decision Clarity — Raktim Singh
  3. Read about The Enterprise AI Runbook Crisis The Enterprise AI Runbook Crisis: Why Model Churn Is Breaking Production AI — and What CIOs Must Fix in the Next 12 Months — Raktim Singh
  4. Read about Enterprise AI Economics Enterprise AI Economics & Cost Governance: Why Every AI Estate Needs an Economic Control Plane — Raktim Singh

Read about Who Owns Enterprise AI Who Owns Enterprise AI? Roles, Accountability, and Decision Rights in 2026 — Raktim Singh

Read about The Intelligence Reuse Index The Intelligence Reuse Index: Why Enterprise AI Advantage Has Shifted from Models to Reuse — Raktim Singh

Read about Enterprise AI Agent Registry Enterprise AI Agent Registry: The Missing System of Record for Autonomous AI — Raktim Singh

What is OCEN

Raktim Singh
-
0
What is OCEN

What is OCEN 

The Open Credit Enablement Network (OCEN) is an emerging digital public good
(DPG) that has the potential to democratize and transform India’s digital lending
landscape.
It’s a framework of APIs that allow borrowers to easily interact with lenders (loan 
service providers (LSPs), account aggregators, etc.) and get small credit loans.

Which problem OCEN is solving

In India, we have deposits of around 2 trillion USD. But our MSME sector is not 
able to get loan from formal institution.
The MSME sector require loan of around 300 billion USD. MSME forms an 
important part of our economy & we need to make sure that MSME are able to get loans to run, expand their business.

Challenges in Lending Industry
In a typical loan cycle, these are steps involved.

1. Identification & acquisition of a borrower
2. Verifying & establishing the credit worthiness of the borrower
3. Based on the above 2 steps, identify, how much loan can be given to the borrower 

4. Connecting the borrower with lender (bank/NBFC..)
5. Disbursal of the loan so that borrower can get the loan ASAP.
6. Collection of various loan installments

We need to understand that MSME or other borrower running their business daily and they can’t run around the bank, NBFC for days.

This will impact their existing daily business.
Also, in many cases, these borrowers don’t have any formal 
document, balance sheet or asset, which can be given as collateral for disbursement of the loan.
If a lender goes through above 6 steps in the current way, it cost him 
between 3000-5000 INR for each loan application.

To really make profit, a lender need to disburse loan of around 3-5 lakh per applicant.
This means that borrower with need of small loan amount get excluded from the current formal system.

In many cases these borrowers (especially MSME) need loan amount in the range of few thousand rupees.

How OCEN is solving this
OCEN is solving this problem, along with help of AA (Account Aggregator) and Embedded Finance. 
Account Aggregator: It’s a method that involves compiling information from 
different accounts, which may include various bank accounts, investment accounts, 
credit card, account, insurance, and other consumer or business accounts, into a single place.
This can be done by connecting to the various financial institution through API 
(Application Program Interface). It is vital that consumer should have given his 
consent before various data related to his accounts etc. is collected and aggregated.
Embedded Finance: It’s the placing of a financial product in a nonfinancial 
customer experience, journey, or platform.
If a borrower gets a working capital loan, at his business, while doing his business,
based on the business value, & later loan installment amount is automatically 
deducted from business income, it solves all the problem.
For example, for a dairy farmer, who is supplying to dairy cooperation, gets receipt from dairy cooperation. 

Now based on those receipts, it can be identified
1. How much business that dairy farmer is doing on a monthly basis
2. Whether dairy farmer is regular in supplying the dairy product ..doing the business diligently
3. Instead of dairy farmer going to bank, a LSP (Loan service Provider), can 
arrange a loan for this farmer by connecting him to formal institution (bank/NBFC).
4. All these steps can be performed, with technology, by the LSP, while dairy farmer 
is, at dairy cooperation or while he is at his farm.

Nandan Nilekani sir, summarized all this while addressing a gathering hosted by
Sahamati, the alliance of Account Aggregators,

“

Working capital is often not available to small businesses because of an information
asymmetry and because the lender is not able to come and make a physical
assessment of their assets.

Taking our example further, LSP (Loan service provider) can take the consent of the
dairy farmer & collect all this financial data with help of Account aggregator.

So, the dairy farmer need not run around various banks or other financial institution, 
to collect & aggregate his own financial data.

While disbursing the loan, this data also can be taken into consideration, wherever
applicable.

However, if a firm has a digital footprint of its own business, has the [record of]
payments made to its vendors, of the purchases made by consumers from them 
and the invoices and the taxes that are paid, then that information can be used to 
give that MSME a working capital loan.

And, therefore, digital footprints of a small business or an individual can be used to
access credit.

This can lead to the democratization of credit.”

Example for OCEN

Let’s take another example here. Now, many shops have started accepting payment by UPI.
These shopkeepers have the QR code, which one need to scan to pay the
amount.

So, after taking consent from shopkeeper, all the purchase amount data passing
through that particular QR code can be read. This will help, LSP (Loan Service 
Provider) to understand the overall turnover at that shop. 

Also, if shopkeeper is paying to whole seller or manufacturer of the good by digital way, it can be identified, how much amount, shopkeeper is spending to buy the various product for his shop. 

Along with the data from Account aggregator (AA) for the shopkeeper, full 360 
degree view can be created for that shopkeeper.

Important point to note here is, for collection of all this data, shopkeeper need not go
away from his shop. Also, he need not put any asset as collateral. But this data 
derived from various digital devices act as Collateral, while sanctioning the loan amount.

So, shopkeeper, gets the loan, in his shop, while still running his shop & based 
on the data/turnover at his shop.

A real digital transformation of the MSME business.

Role of OCEN

OCEN was launched in July 2020 as an open protocol infrastructure.

It facilitates the interactions between LSPs (FinTech’s or other e-commerce
players) and mainstream lenders ( Banks and NBFCs).

It provides a standard set of tools representing the various components of a
typical lending value chain, these players to ‘plug in’ lending into their current
operations.

As of today, Sahay is available. We can say that Sahay is OCEN’s first
rendition. Just as BHIM implemented UPI & became the first reference for
UPI, Sahay is first implantation of OCEN.

Sahay app is supporting various use case.

1. Invoice-Discounting Use case: Merchants can provide their outstanding
invoices & can get loans against that.
2. Merchants can sign up and get instant loans from lenders by providing
their GST identification numbers and bank details.
At the time of writing of this article, Sahay GST and Sahay GeM (government e-marketplace) APP is already available. 

Here, we should also know about CredALL.

CredAll is a non-profit group that enables cash-flow based lending.

Its responsibility include

1. Implementation of OCEN
2. Providing access to the new protocol to various industry participants
3. Stakeholder education
4. Publishing guidelines and principles,

5. Connecting TSPs (Technology service providers) with lenders and LSPs
6. Helping LSPs in creating business cases. That is, helping various LSPs
in collection of relevant and important data related to various borrowers,
which can help bank in quickly doing risk assessment of the borrower
and disbursing the loans.

7. Identification and empanelment of certification agencies

LSPs plays an important role now.
LSP, along with TSP, can utilize various alternative sources of data to
make the most accurate risk assessment algorithms.

They need to make sure that borrower get the loans and all participants
.in the chain (LSP, bank/NBFC, TSP..) can make profit while keeping the
loan interest rate at market rate or lower.

Also, now borrower can view and compare loan offers from various
lenders in one place.
Borrower can provide his exact requirement (the total amount of loan, the
tenure of the loan etc. ). It’s sort of a personalized loan offer is created for
borrower.
All the other information (which otherwise a typical bank branch would
have asked such as PAN, address, etc. is submitted by the AA directly to
all lenders via an API call – thereby removing all paperwork).

DEPA – Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) is a secure,
consent-based data-sharing framework.
It plays a crucial role in establishing AA data-sharing protocols. DEPA aims to
help individuals to seamlessly and securely access their data and share it with
third-party institutions.

Conclusion: OCEN, along with AA (account aggregators), LSP (loan service
providers), are creating an ecosystem, where borrower can get loan from 
bank/NBFC as per their need. That is sort of getting a loan offer, totally personalized as per their need, without running behind various agencies. 

Technology, mainly the digital footprint of borrower is helping in creation of accurate
data for the borrower, which can help bank in taking faster decision, while disbursing the loans.

Now, borrowing money will not be limited to the assets and incomes owned
by a person, one of the biggest hurdles that has limited the growth of
traditional lending.

Also, small amount loans (sachet loans) can be disbursed, while still making
profits for everyone.

A cheaper rate of credit will help various entrepreneurs, existing business
owners, farmers to grow their business, create new employment
opportunities and grow overall economy of the country.

In the past, various loan schemes were devised, which were helping people,
who were part of formal economy.

Though that had surely helped some people/industries but in many cases, we
have seen either borrower, defaulting on the loans or loan getting waived off
by various parties or rich person becoming richer resulting in a big divide
between Have and have-nots.

OCEN, by nature, is going to help all people (Top of the pyramid to bottom of
the pyramid.).

This inclusive nature is very important so that each person in the society is
able to create a successful business (or get employment as per his talent)
and live a meaningful, fulfilling and responsible life.

What is Blockchain technology with examples

Raktim Singh
-
0
What is Blockchain technology with examples

2 Interesting facts about Blockchain

(a) Do you know that work on Blockchain started in 1991. Yes, in 1991, Stuart Haber and
W. Scott Stornetta worked on cryptographically secured chain of blocks whereby no one
could tamper with the timestamps of documents.

(b) The single biggest advantage of Blockchain is that it provides a ‘Tamper Proof
Database’.
That’s, once you store some data on Blockchain, it’s very hard (but not impossible) for
someone to tamper that data.

The world of Blockchain

Imagine a world where transparency, security, and decentralization reign supreme,
where transactions are tamper-proof, and trust is inherent. This visionary realm is made
possible through the remarkable technology known as blockchain.

As we embark on a journey to unravel the intricacies of this groundbreaking innovation,
let’s delve into its fascinating aspects, remarkable history, how it works, its prominent
features, advantages, and its potential future applications.

What is Blockchain:

At its core, blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that securely records
transactions across multiple computers or nodes.

It ensures transparency, immutability, and trust by creating a chain of blocks containing
encrypted data, verified by network participants, and maintained collectively.
Blockchain is a distributed ledger that serves as a transparent, traceable, and
unforgeable system of record.

The information on the ledger is shared and continually reconciled and therefore is
immutable and correct by design.
Blockchains are a new type of database and provide a single shared source of truth,
which is visible to anyone and yet protected from tampering and revision.

Analogy for Blockchain system

Suppose you have physical copy of your bank passbook. So, this passbook contains
multiple pages & on each page, your bank transactions are printed. Also, at the end,
final account balance is also printed.

Now, you can make photostat copy of this passbook and give to your family members.
So initially, everyone will have same data/copy of original passbook.

In case, someone tries to modify a transaction (Or tries to add a transaction, in
between) than he has recalculate & modify subsequent transactions.
Also, these modified transactions (say tampered data) will be reflected only in his copy.
Other family members will object as in their photostat copy, this modification will not be
there. And hence, this tampered data can be caught very easily.

Similarly, if you are owner of a land than the landownership certificate is maintained by
you & say the city council.

Only 2 parties. This is an example of centralized database. Here, in case, someone at
city council changes/modifies that certificate, it will be very difficult for you to prove that
land indeed belongs to you.
Now, suppose, the land ownership certificate (copy of that) is maintained by 10 other
parties. For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that both you & city council trust these
parties and are ok to involve these parties for this certificate.

In case, someone at city council modifies that certificate, you can take help of those 10
parties and prove that someone at city council had modified the certificate.
Something similar also happens in Blockchain system & hence, it is very difficult to
tamper data there.

Blockchain Technology:

These are the key properties of blockchain technology.
i. Immutability: Blockchain technology provides an immutable ledger where
once a transaction is recorded, it becomes nearly impossible to alter or
manipulate the data. This revolutionary feature ensures an unparalleled level
of security and trust.

ii. Decentralization: Unlike traditional centralized systems, blockchain operates
on a decentralized network, distributing control and eliminating the need for
intermediaries. This democratic approach empowers individuals and fosters a
transparent ecosystem.

Note that cryptocurrency & Smart Contract are use-cases/application of
Blockchain.

History of Blockchain Technology:

Though work on Blockchain started in 1991 but it gained prominence in 2008.

In 2008, an enigmatic figure known as Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin
whitepaper, introducing the world to the concept of a decentralized digital currency.
In 2009, the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain, known as the Genesis Block, was
mined.

Over time, blockchain technology evolved, gaining recognition and attracting the
interest of tech enthusiasts, visionaries, and enterprises worldwide.
Noteworthy milestones include the emergence of Ethereum in 2015, introducing smart
contracts, and the subsequent proliferation of various blockchain projects aiming to
revolutionize industries.

What is Blockchain Technology and How Does it Work?

Blockchain operates through a consensus mechanism, typically achieved through proof-
of-work or proof-of-stake algorithms.
Blockchain can be thought of as a public ledger system that records transactions from
different parties in a permanent, anonymous, and secure way
Many times, data is stored & maintained by a central system. Someone having access
to that central system, can always tamper with data.

In Blockchain, data is encrypted & stored, shared across various nodes. It’s a time-
stamped growing database.
Various cryptographic algorithms, measures are taken to securely store transaction from
being tampered.

It’s very difficult for someone to decrypt the data & change it across nodes,
simultaneously. If data is tampered/changed only on a node, other nodes will reject that
data & that that node may be moved, out of network.
Even a single change in the linked blocks results in the collapse of the hash link, and
the chain is broken and is rejected by the network.

When a transaction occurs, it is bundled with other transactions into a block. Miners or
validators compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate and append the
block to the existing chain. Once validated, the block becomes a permanent part of the
blockchain, and the transaction is complete.

Generally, Bitcoin and blockchain are seen as the same, but actually, Bitcoin operates
on the technology of blockchain.

You can read more about the details about the working of Blockchain technology in my earlier post 👇

What is Blockchain Technology and How Does it Work?

Key parts of Blockchain:

Blockchain has basically three parts.
1. Information part – the information of the executed transaction
2. Hash– unique ID
3. Previous hash– hash of the previous block

Every blockchain contains the hash of the previous block. Therefore, it is not possible
for anyone to tamper with the data.
If a person wants to change it, that person needs to change each and every hash of a
blockchain which is practically impossible; therefore, the data in the blockchain cannot
be tampered.

How traceability is maintained with Blockchain

Till now, we discussed that once a record is inserted into blockchain, that record can’t
be modified.
So, taking our land record example, what will happen, in case I actually sell my land to
another person John.
Now, another new record for John will be created. Also, data related to provenance will
be maintained.
Provenance (from the French provenir, ‘to come from/forth’) is the chronology
of the ownership, custody or location of a historical object.
The primary purpose of tracing the provenance of an object or entity is normally to provide
contextual and circumstantial evidence for its original production or discovery, by

establishing as far as practicable, its later history, especially the sequences of its formal ownership, custody and places od storage.

So, with help of original record (which tells that I am the owner of the record) +
Provenance data (which tells that Land was sold to John), it can be established that now John is the current owner of the land.

Key characteristic of a database:

For any database, 3 things are considered.
1. Scalability
2. Security
3. Speed

Let’s take an example here.
When you are buying some grocery item, you can pay by Credit Card or Phone (UPI
etc.).
Here you expect that your transaction should happen very fast. If it takes even some
seconds, you get irritated.
Also, in that grocery shop, lot of buy (big volume) transaction must be happening. So, all
those transactions should happen very fast for all the customers. Here, though security
is important but in case of any wrong transaction, shop keeper & buyer can settle that.
So, in these transactions, Speed & Scalability takes more priority than security.
But if we go back on our land record certificate example, here ‘Security’ is of upmost
importance.
Even if certificate data update takes time, you will be ok with that, Also, not many
purchase/sale transaction of land record happens. So, scalability is not a key
consideration.

Blockchain is best suited for this type of transaction.

On similar note, Blockchain is not good for high volume transaction, low value (
purchase & sale transaction at grocery).

Key Features of Blockchain:

i. Security: Blockchain employs cryptographic techniques to secure transactions and
data, making it highly resistant to hacking and fraud.

ii. Transparency: The transparent nature of blockchain allows participants to view and
verify transactions, promoting trust and accountability.

iii. Decentralization: The decentralized architecture of blockchain eliminates the need
for intermediaries, reducing costs and enhancing efficiency.

Advantages of Blockchain Technology:

i. Enhanced Security: Blockchain’s tamper-resistant design ensures secure and
trustworthy transactions, protecting against fraud and unauthorized access.

ii. Enhanced Efficiency: By eliminating intermediaries and streamlining processes,
blockchain can significantly enhance operational efficiency.

iii. Trust and Transparency: The transparent and immutable nature of blockchain
fosters trust among participants and allows for real-time auditing and verification.

Other Related Technologies:

To fully comprehend blockchain technology, it is essential to be aware of related
concepts such as distributed ledger technology (DLT), cryptocurrency (Bitcoin etc,) smart contracts, and consensus
mechanisms like proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-authority (PoA).

You can read about cryptocurrency in my earlier post 👇

What is cryptocurrency? Beginners Guide for Digital Currency

What Blockchain Technology Doesn’t Contain:

Blockchain technology is not a panacea for all problems.

It does not inherently possess infinite scalability, as large-scale adoption may lead to performance challenges.
Additionally, it does not address privacy concerns unless combined with appropriate
encryption techniques or additional privacy-focused layers.

When you should not use Blockchain Technology:

Once a data is put into Blockchain, that data can’t be modified/altered. You need to a
new record which should nullify the effect of previous record.

Taking from our earlier example, if there is a landownership certificate, which belong to
me and now If I am selling that land to another person, say John than a new record
should be put with all the parties (city council, 10 other parties ..), stating that now land
belongs to John.
Only after this data is updated with all parties (node), it will show that now land belongs
to John.
So, blockchain may not be the optimal solution in cases where a centralized database is
sufficient, transaction speed is crucial, or data privacy must be strictly maintained.

So, only where data either doesn’t get modified or doesn’t get modified frequently, only
for those cases, blockchain should be used.
So, it’s good to maintain citizen’s data (Date of Birth, School Certificate), Driving License
certificate, Land ownership details, High value & low volume transactions.

But blockchain is not good for low value, high volume transaction. That’s, blockchain
should not be used for day-to-day payment transactions.

On similar note, using blockchain in a stock exchange can be very costly. Reason being, lot
of stock are bought/sold every minute, when stock market is open. Inserting all that data
in blockchain will take lot of time and overall TCO (Total cost of ownership) will be very
high.

Use Cases of Blockchain Technology:

i. High value, Low Volume Trade Transaction: In high value trade transaction, there
are many parties involved. Buyer, Seller, Transport agency, Insurance Agency etc.
Especially in case of export-import, different parties don’t know each other. So, they go
to bank to issue Documentary Credit etc.
Here Blockchain can provide a platform, where data on underlying platform (
Blockchain) provides trust.
It provides transparency & traceability.

ii. Digital Identity Management: Blockchain can enable individuals to take control of
their digital identities, ensuring privacy, security, and seamless verification across
various platforms.

iii. Voting Systems: Blockchain has the potential to transform voting systems by
providing secure, transparent, and tamper-proof records, ensuring fair and trustworthy
elections.

Companies Using Blockchain:

i. IBM: IBM has been actively exploring blockchain technology, offering solutions like
IBM Blockchain Platform that cater to various industries such as finance, supply chain,
and healthcare.

ii. Ripple: Ripple is a prominent company leveraging blockchain technology for cross-
border payments, providing faster and more cost-effective transactions.

iii. ConsenSys: ConsenSys is a blockchain software technology company that
develops decentralized applications, focusing on Ethereum-based solutions.

Note that, this is not an exhaustive list. Now, almost all major
companies like NVIDIA, Microsoft, PayPal, Google, Meta etc. are
involved in Blockchain.

Industries Using Blockchain:

I. Finance: Blockchain has disrupted the financial industry by enabling secure and
efficient cross-border payments, facilitating decentralized lending and borrowing
platforms, and revolutionizing asset tokenization.

II. Government: Blockchain is helping various governments across the globe to
maintain citizen’s records.

III. Healthcare: Blockchain technology is being explored to securely store and share
patient data, streamline medical records, and ensure the integrity of
pharmaceutical supply chains.

Industries with Potential Blockchain Applications:

Various industries, including logistics, real estate, energy, and education, can benefit
from blockchain technology.

By enhancing transparency, reducing intermediaries, and
optimizing processes, blockchain has the potential to revolutionize these sectors.
Apart from that with Blockchain is also getting explored to store the ownership record of
high value painting or other high value gadgets.

The Future of Blockchain Technology:

As blockchain technology continues to mature, we can expect increased scalability,
interoperability, and integration with emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and
the Internet of Things.
From revolutionizing financial systems to transforming governance structures,
blockchain holds immense potential to reshape industries and society at large.

Conclusion:

Blockchain technology has emerged as a game-changer, offering unprecedented levels
of security, transparency, and decentralization.

Its ability to foster trust and eliminate intermediaries has the potential to transform industries and empower individuals.
As we stand on the cusp of a blockchain revolution, it is crucial to explore its
possibilities, harness its advantages, and prepare for the exciting future it promises to
unveil.

What is ONDC with examples

Raktim Singh
-
0
What is ONDC with examples

What is ONDC

Open network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is a network, which will enable commerce
across almost all segments (from food, electronic..grocery, agriculture, construction
material, hotel & travel booking).

This is the vision of ONDC.
“
An open network for digital commerce that will establish open, inclusive, and
competitive marketplaces online, creating choice and opportunity for everyone, by
everyone
“
The best part about ONDC is that it will open doors for everyone including the smallest
of the sellers located in the remotest parts of the country to ride the e-commerce wave.

What is different with ONDC.
Till now, as a buyer, you may have used various online platforms like Amazon, Flipkart or ordered food from Swiggy, Zomato etc.

ONDC is not a platform but is an open network, which is built with beckN protocol
(Open standard).

In any commerce transaction, there are multiple players like
1. Buyer
2. Seller
3. Logistic team to deliver to the physical good.
4. Insurance team, in case of high value purchase item
5. Financial group, which facilitate the payment & wherever applicable, provide
loans to buyer or seller (say farmer to purchase seeds/pesticides).
6. Rating agencies, which can independently rate a product and overall service
delivery quality.
7. Grievance & Redressal group, which comes into picture in case of dispute.

Till now, when you were purchasing an item from a platform, it handles all these tasks.

Though at first glance, it looks good for a consumer but over a period, these platforms
had started certain practices, which may not be good for many players.

(A) Like, today, for a small seller, it’s very difficult to get listed on a platform. In many
cases, that seller has to give lot of money as commission to the platform owner.
Also, in many cases, when buyer searches for a product on that platform, that small
seller is not sure, whether his product will be shown on first/second page of the result.

So, in many cases, small seller or sellers from small towns are at disadvantageous position.

Apart from that, in case, a seller decides to list his product than he has to list his product
on each platform separately. That incur cost to the seller.
Also, a review/rating for product, remain with that platform only. If a product is good &
got many positive reviews/ratings, it will be visible only on that platform. On another
platform, seller has to again start from scratch.

(B) As a buyer, you need to adhere to/pay to the delivery person, associated with
that platform. So, even if delivery/logistic service is not good, you still have to
depend on that.

My experience

Personally, I had also experienced these issues (though that were at global level).

For my first book. ‘Driving Digital Transformation’, my publisher had to tie up with various
online platforms to list my book as I wanted to sell across the globe.

Though my book has been sold in 20+ countries but it was a herculean task, making sure
that my book is listed/available on online platforms, applicable in those countries.

Similarly, my book has got good rating on various platforms (Amazon.com, Amazon.in,
Amazon.co.us, Amazon.nl, Flipkart etc.).

This is how, it shows on amazon.in 👇

Driving Digital Transformation: Reshape the Future of Your Business eBook : Singh, Raktim: Amazon.in: Kindle Store

This how it shows on flipkart 👇

Driving Digital Transformation: Buy Driving Digital Transformation by Singh Raktim at Low Price in India | Flipkart.com

This is how it shows on amazon.co,uk 👇

Driving Digital Transformation: Reshape the Future of Your Business eBook : Singh, Raktim: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

This is how it shows on amazon.nl 👇

Driving Digital Transformation: Reshape the Future of Your Business (English Edition) eBook : Singh, Raktim: Amazon.nl: Kindle Store

This is how, it shows on amazon.com 👇

Amazon.com: Driving Digital Transformation: Reshape the Future of Your Business eBook : Singh, Raktim: Kindle Store

If you click on those link & see, you will realize that for my same book, each platform shows different rating (different ‘total number of ratings’ and ‘review comments’).

On one site, only 3 reviews/ratings are there while in another one 118 reviews/rating are there. Other sites have 107 or 111 reviews/ratings.

As a Seller (Author), once I started adding up all distinct reviews/rating across the platforms than I realized that my book has got total 123 reviews/ratings but none of the platform is showing that Total review/ratings.

Also, one person ordered in Singapore, ordered the physical copy of my book. Book
was delivered from USA.

Needless to say, that delivery charges were more than the cost of the physical book.

What ONDC will do

An open network like ONDC, will unbundles a series of services that would otherwise be
unified on a single platform.
This means that each discrete service like buyer, seller, logistics agency, financial.
service provider ….can innovate and provide best service at a much lower cost. A win-
win for all.

ONDC will enable, buyers and sellers to be digitally visible to each other. They will be
able to transact through an open network.
It will empower merchants and consumers by breaking silos to form a single network.
This will drive both innovation and scale.

Now any seller—big or small, digitally savvy or not—could participate in an open
network without needing to build the entire ecosystem on their own.

ONDC will spur innovation in all the segments, across all the players. So, we may see
innovation in logistic and delivery agencies (1 day delivery, delivery along with insurance, delivery of multiple order combined together for you and offering a lower service charge).

As all these services are getting unbundled, each player can operate from a position of
strength, innovation, and uniqueness.

Which technology is used in ONDC.

ONDC is built over beckn protocol.
As per their website, https://becknprotocol.io

“
beckn protocol is a set of specifications consisting of APIs, data models, reference
architecture, transaction mechanisms, and global standards that when adopted by
digital platforms, enable the creation of decentralized network.

Such network allows consumers and providers to discover, identify each other and
perform transactions with each other without the need for a central intermediary.

It can be thought of as a common set of rules of communication mutually agreed upon
by several platforms to allow their users to perform discovery, ordering, fulfillment, and
post-fulfillment activities between each other in a standard way.

It is a sector-agnostic protocol, meaning, any industry-specific taxonomy or knowledge
model can be represented using the data model of beckn protocol.
“

 

Some Interesting facts related to Indian Economy 

1. Online Commerce in India is less than 10% (7-9%) of over commerce. In other
developed/developing countries that figure is above 10%.
2. India has around 850 Mn Internet Users, 625Mn Smart phone users. Out of that
around 400 Mn users consume content on social media. Only around 170 Mn
users do online shopping.

3. Share of commerce in the Indian grocery industry is around 2%.
4. Only around 8% of internet users order food online.

5. In India, around 40% of farm produce get wasted. This is due to variety of
reasons like, too many intermediaries between farmer to customer, lack of cold
storage, lack of good logistic system etc.

6. Less than 5 Mn of MSME (out of total 100 Mn) are registered to sell online.
7. More than 50% of MSME are unable to get formal credit due to variety of reasons
like lack of documents, time required to go bank for loan approval etc.

8. India has around 200 Mn unorganized labor. But we are dependent on word of
mouth/reference to discover them in case of need.

Only around 10 Mn can be found out/registered on some online website.

 

Which new things ONDC can provide 

1.Seller from any town can get registered via ONDC. They need not start from scratch
or be digital savvy to start their business online.
2. Once listed on a Seller platform, which is part of ONDC eco-system, they/their
product will be visible to all the buyers.

3. Various other service person like carpenters, home-chefs, plumbers, tailors etc. get
listed on any seller platform & be visible to all the buyers.

4. Various financial system will innovate & can come out various type of loans as per
the requirement.

One example here is, that a group which organizes marriage, family function can get listed.
They can help prospective couple to get ‘Marriage now, Pay
Later’ type of loans.

5. Farmers can get loans personalized to their requirements. As bank can track the
activities/behavior of a farmer or group of farmers from a village, they will be more
willing to offer loans as per their need.

6. Alongside this, insurance companies can offer suitable insurance for crop based on
the digital footprint of the farmer.

7. In nutshell, access to consumer data could allow banks and NBFCs to design new
financial products and expand their portfolio.

8. If all players (seller etc.) are uploading their data online on GSTN, government can
gauge GST as well as GDP data, almost on real time basis.

No more waiting for day/months.

This will help government and other groups to take meaningful action. That is, based on the purchase/sale of a product across India, company can figure out, whether the new product is really successful or not, in which geography/state demand is high etc.

9. New type of work for technology providers will be needed. It can be ‘Search Product
as a Service’, ‘Inventory/Catalogue as a service for small time sellers.

10. Various agencies can participate who can help in comparison of all products across
India. (say best price for a formal shirt for person with shirt size of ‘Large fit’).

11. Rating agencies can come who can provide certificate/badges to various
service/product providers based on earlier product delivered.

12.Decrease in inventory holding cost and reduced losses due to damages and expiry
due to better visibility on the digitized inventory

13. Better discovery & enhanced availability could boost community group buying,
particularly from smaller towns, which could result in the consolidation of orders served
at a potentially lower cost with a more efficient supply chain

14. Today, if you order 4 items from 4 platforms, delivery person associated with
each platform, delivers you separately. Now, based on the customer requirement, these orders can be clubbed together and delivered at one shot.
This will save money for customer as well as sellers. Better utilization of delivery
fleet.

15. ONDC can unleash the power of the informal economy by accelerating the
digitalization of small sellers, (e.g., home chefs) and enabling low-cost marketing
(e.g., via WhatsApp) and delivery models

16. ONDC could spur innovative financing structures—including operations based
funding, credit issued against transaction history on the network, and credit
based on nonconventional markers.

For example, for farmers, it can look at PM Kisan credit, subsidy flows,
crop insurance debit & arrive at new personalized loans for the farmer.
Also, here integrations with existing solutions (such as
Agristack) can also leverage farmer data to inform credit decisioning.

In nutshell, as all players on this digital network, they will be creating digital footprints,
which can be used to
(A) Arrive at various finance options to the players
(B) Based on historical data, relevant help to MSME, farmer or service person
(Plumber, home-chefs etc.) can be provided.

Challenges for ONDC 
1.One of the biggest challenges is making common taxonomy for various product
across sectors.
Without a common taxonomy, buyer will not be able to discover/identify the product,
which they are searching for.

For example, one type of pulse is called ‘Arhar Dal’ in north India. But in south India, that is called as ‘Toor Dal’. Now, if someone is searching for ‘Arhar Dal’, results of ‘Toor Dal’ may not get shown though both are same.

2. Buyer App need to be transparent in, why some products were listed on first 
page of the result. No hidden algorithm.

3. Each player needs to digitize their inventory & catalogue data.
4. On similar line, logistic, Supply Chain & delivery data need to be digitized for
transparency as well for creating digital footprint for future use.

5. Here, series of services will be unbundled. No one player controls the end-to end
value chain. This means standard APIs & policies, which everyone should
adhere to.

A customer journey goes from search, discovery, order placement, fulfilment to
payments, returns, and grievances.

ONDC, need to address the concerns with a mix of clear network policies,
enhanced and optimized API definitions, and innovations in third-party tools and
solutions.

6. Big investment will be needed in digitalization of all data across the value chain. As mentioned earlier, I see a big role/opportunity for technology providers here.

If some cost-effective solution comes, which can scan the products kept in shop and upload on Seller App, it will be in big demand. That technology solution also has to keep on updating the Seller App, whenever, some other products come in that shop or earlier item get sold of.

Shop owner can maintain product data (details about the product, quantity available, price etc.) on Seller App only. Based on this data, the manufacturer of that product or the wholesale person/company can decide, when & how to replenish the stock at that shop.

7. Help in vernacular languages should be offered to all players across the
segments.

Many players many are not comfortable with English. May be a chat-
bot, which can answer the queries in the native language will be required.
For example, farmers should get help on seed, pesticide buying, loans &
insurance for the farming as well as mechanism to better price discovery while
selling their crops.

8. Creation of cold-storages, provision to make sure that damage free delivery is
done for fragile items and facility to return/refund with proper redressal system.

9. Provision for after sales service, ongoing maintenance and reseller market
should also be created here. That will instill trust in buyer’s mind.
10. Certification agencies: Provide QC certificate to resellers based on product
testing, to boost seller’s reliability on the network.

11. Product pricing partners: Engage with resellers to price their products using
robust algorithms, helping resellers earn consumer’s trust.
12. Video interactions among sellers, logistics providers, and consumers could
enhance this effort, improving communication and transparency throughout the
delivery process

13. Create an enhanced user interface and user experience. This means that buyer
apps will need to have very good user interface and experience (UI/UX).
14. Good support system for all stakeholders in the initial days till everyone (majority
of players) come on board.

15. Apart from various product across sectors, we have diversity of culture across
the nation.
Various festivals, family functions are celebrated as per the religion & culture.

Players can device new products by taking into account that part (that new
product around religious festival, national day, marriage season, ..some months
are not regarded as auspicious for new purchase and some days/months
are considered good for buying new things).

India is rich….and one need to participate in Indian economy by understanding these diverse culture..the unity in its diversity.

Conclusion

ONDC is a step beyond the current platform-centric e-commerce system where both the buyer and seller have to use the same platform or application to conduct a business transaction.

Small traders have for long been crying foul at the unfair trade practices of current e-tailers.

Now ONDC could emerge as a network of networks.

It will bring decentralization, unbundling of various discrete services, provide interoperability & bring transparency.

ONDC will be key to enhance digital adoption & inclusion of all sectors, increase visibility, utilization, and efficiency across the commerce sector.

If your product is good, ONDC will give you the power to sell your product to anyone across the country. Also, you need not worry about learning various digital technology or worry about whether your product will be shown or no.

Rest assured, ONDC is a win-win for all stakeholders.

TECHNOLOGY…FOR BUILDING THE NATION

Raktim Singh
-
0
TECHNOLOGY…FOR BUILDING THE NATION

Conversion with Sai

M: Technology can help in

  1. Better policy decisions
  2. Helping small & medium business owners
  3. Tackling corruption in the system

Sai: Technology is only for rich people. Not sure, whether you really understand the problem of a nation.

We need to arrive at policies & actions, which can help all the sections of a society.

We also need to take into account that different people will have different needs. Our country has people from many religions, cultures, and belief systems.

So, we can’t apply, one size fits all solutions

Me: I think, I understand. Diversity & different set of belief systems are all the more reason that we use technology for all our decision making & take the help of technology, before rolling out any policy or action.

S: Correct me, If I am wrong, but today’s technological advancements are just related to data.

M: ?

S:: I mean, it’s all about collecting data, processing that data & giving an output (which is also a data).

M: Yes, you are more or less right. But collecting ALL the data, doing correct processing on all that data & presenting that data is the USP here.

S:??

M: Earlier many a times, we used to take decisions based on a ‘sample’ set of data.

After implementation, once that action/policy was rolled out to a bigger & wider audience, we used to face problems. And after that tweaking, adjustments used to get done.

Now, we can collect data for all the members of a society and take relevant steps.

S: Give me an example?

M: Government devices various benefit programs. Earlier, those were defined by listening to only selected set of people. Now, based on the geography, age, gender, literacy rate….different set of benefit programs can be rolled out.

S: Ok, so it can help in better government policies & action. What about small businessmen?

M: With Initiatives like ONDC ( Open Network for Digital Commerce), small businessmen can sell online. If their product is good, it can be sold across the country.

S: Though I agree that ONDC can provide a platform but as a buyer, how will I know, which product is good or from where to buy, unless it’s a branded product.

M: Based on earlier transactions, a seller can get rating from the previous buyer. They can also provide written feedback. That will help a new buyer to take better decisions.

Also, may be, we can show data to a buyer like

  1. People from his town have purchased  from seller ABC.
  2. Top Seller in this category is say XYZ.
  3. In the last 10 days, people have bought from Seller ABC .

S: Um.. Small nudges.

M: Yes, for unbranded products, buyers normally consider these things

    1. If, I buy from this seller, will I indeed get the delivery within the expected time & with quality.
    2. Whether someone else is buying or not.
  • Can I refund the goods in case of any issue?

If all that data can be displayed transparently, buyers will be more favorable to purchase from that seller.

S: Ok, so how can corruption be tackled in the government system?

M: In some countries, through lottery-based system, various government departments are selected. After that, their audited data is shown, displayed on the TV, and internet.

 Many a times, transparency brings accountability.

S: May be, departments or cities, which are doing good, can also present the case of good practices they have adopted, that has resulted in overall good outcome.

M: Agree. We all know that Data is new Oil. But we need to arrive at various use-cases & application, by which we can harness the power of data in a way that can make a difference in society in a positive way.

How Technology can help us in creating a better society

Raktim Singh
-
0
How Technology can help us in creating a better society

Conversation with Sai.

Me: Hi, you look worried?

Sai: Yes. Worried about the future of our jobs? Technology can replace our jobs.

Me: I think we always get worried by new technologies. Once cars were invented, everyone was worried that horse cart owners would lose their jobs. But on a lighter note, I think, only horses lost their jobs.

Technology has always helped us.

S: Like?

M: If we go back, whether it was the discovery of the wheel or printing press, all these helped us.

S: OK.

M: Even cars, aero planes, phone, TV…all these contributed to connecting with others. All these expanded human imaginations.

Cars, Aero planes help us to travel to far off places.

Electricity helped us to work late in the day & therefore aided in increasing the productive hours available to us in one day.

Phone helped us to connect with people across the seas. This again has helped humans in taking jobs in places which are far off from their native place.

Radio, TV assisted us in transferring information at a fast pace to the other side of the globe.

Computers are helping us to take up & do work which was impossible to get completed with mere human support.

Be it data collection, data analytics for a large population or for that matter doing Interest Calculation for all the customers of a bank or streamlining supply chain management.

Sai: But AI (Artificial Intelligence) is different.

M: Actually, I believe, we should think of AI as our IA (Intelligent Assistant).

S: Explain more in detail.

Me: Frankly, even after so much technological advancement, we still have big gaps between the ‘Haves’ and ‘Have Nots’.

In most of the cases, Information Asymmetry has caused a big divide between ‘Haves’ & Have Nots’.

S: Information or knowledge…

Me: At the moment, I will say information asymmetry. I am not even talking of cases, where a person, who has put a lot of effort in learning new things or gained knowledge by going through various books.

I am talking of the cases, where information about something was just not available or very hard to find. That asymmetry also has caused a big divide.

Information asymmetry can result in:-

  1. Usage of Product: When a person is not aware of various Products. It can be an investment Product or Health Product.
  2. Opportunity: If a person is not aware of various opportunities like a job opportunity, or better price about a farm produce or Health service.
  3. Government Schemes: When a group of people are not aware of various government schemes, which are available to them but due to lack of information, they are not availing those.
  4. Discovery: If you are a good plumber or carpenter but no one knows about you. So, your skills are not getting utilized by society, who need these functions.

S: So, how can technology help here?

M: Today, many of us are talking about ChatGPT.

So, ChatGPT can help students in understanding & solving various problems related to their curriculum.

Remember AI is also helping us in creating tools which can translate from one language to another.

Think of scenarios, where ChatGPT can help farmers in remote villages by telling them various government schemes available to them and how they can avail those.

Similarly, it can help in the health sector by telling a patient about his condition. It can even help doctors in this city by telling them what best is available to that patient ( as per his unique condition).

Sai : Understand. But as such, this was already available through the Internet.

M: Remember, many times, our WHAT has remained the same but HOW is different.

These Chatbots are making sure that information is available to a person, whenever he needs, at whatever place or time he needs.

Technology can help in making sure that the required help is available in the context of an individual.

In my opinion, a good society is where every member of the society has equal information, equal opportunity & equal resources to take action.

Now, after that whether action is taken or not is dependent on that person.

But first, we need to make sure that every person has equal choices.

And we are still far away from reaching that stage. We still have a lot of work to do, which humans can only do.

 Only humans can think of, how to properly use ChatGPT and identify the right set of questions and problems. Remember, ChatGPT can provide answers, but humans need to ask the right set of questions or identify the right set of problems.

That’s the reason, I believe that these technological advances are providing us with more options to create a level playing field.

OPEN NETWORK…TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Raktim Singh
-
0
OPEN NETWORK…TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

TECHNOLOGY CREATING A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD

Early days of the Internet

Technology should help in the creation of a level playing field. That was the idea of the Internet. At its core, the main property of the internet is to share data between 2 machines.

Data can be in any format (Text data, Pictorial data, Voice data.) and Machine can be of any type (underlying hardware type, size, configuration…doesn’t matter).

Later we saw emergence of the HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) & SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

While HTTP helped us in making sure that WEB pages built with HTTP can be accessed by anyone, anytime & from anywhere.

Similarly, SMTP has ensured that mail sent from any server type always reaches to the recipient’s mailbox. That is a mail sent from MS outlook can go to a person having only GMAIL. So, one was not restricted to sending mails only to say, MS OUTLOOK users or only GMAIL users.

Platform Era

But after this we saw the emergence of Platform & APP system. Today, with a mobile phone & internet connection, we can login into a platform or APP, and enjoy watching movies, from the comfort of our home.

On Similar lines, we can order groceries late in the evening, while returning from office to our home (still sitting in the bus). By the time, we reach home, groceries are delivered at our doorstep.

Though these had helped in overall Digital journey, it has also created monopolies in many places.

So, with platforms, we are able to book a taxi rider, order groceries or watch movies. But these platforms created a closed loop. That is, a customer has to login into a specific platform, provide data and can only see movies, which are available on that platform or order groceries from sellers, which are registered on those platforms.

As more & more users started using a particular platform, the value & importance of that platform grew manifold. In many cases, those platforms become a monopoly player or started dictating terms to both buyers and sellers on that platform.

In many cases, these platforms are also charging a hefty fee, when a ‘Seller’ registers on a platform. So, though these platforms provide a bigger market to various SELLERs, but they also had reduced the overall Profit Margin of the Seller (as Seller need to provide fee/commission to the platform).

Also, a BUYER can only see the SELLER, which are registered on that platform.

ERA of OPEN NETWORK

In India, lot of good work is happening in the creation of DIGITAL PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE (DPI).  As the name suggest, lot of digital infrastructure related PROTOCOLs are developed.

Starting with AADHAR, which helps in providing unique identity to citizens, Digital Locker helps in storage of value, Digital Signature helps in the verification ( think of the paper saved, which earlier banks, universities need to store for years).

UPI has helped in creation of level playing in payments by disintermediating the overall Payment Ecosystem.

On Similar lines, with the help of Beckn protocol, ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is bringing the next set of revolution in Commerce Ecosystem.

As per the website , https://becknprotocol.io

“

beckn protocol is a set of specifications consisting of APIs, data models, reference architecture, transaction mechanisms, and global standards that when adopted by digital platforms, enable the creation of decentralized networks. Such networks allow consumers and providers to discover, identify each other and perform transactions with each other without the need for a central intermediary.

“

Important things to note here are

  1. Creation of a decentralized network, which anyone can join.
  2. No one big central intermediary. So, Buyers can get connected with Sellers directly, without any intermediary. Also, products of all SELLERs can be discovered by buyers.
  3. Overall, the cost for creation of an APPLICATION of top of this Protocol, is significantly low.

Applying the same concept to health, education is going to change the overall ‘DIGITAL’ GAME.

For a country like India, which has diverse culture & different languages, not one solution can fit all. A SUPERAPP can help but that also create a SUPEROWNER ( and with the possible risk of monopoly).

Based on solid digital infrastructure, now a person in say the state of Kerala can create an application for all residents of that state, in a cost-effective way.

On similar lines, another person in state of UP can create localized application for residents of UP.

Conclusion

Earlier also I have said that with Digital Transformation, our WHAT part has remained same but HOW has changed. We are watching movies, reading books, ordering groceries but now, we are doing these, from the comfort of out home, at any point of time & through any digital device.

The emergence of various platforms, which had helped in bringing this transformation, started storing value and many a times, small players were left out.

Now with DPI, anyone & and everyone can join the Digital bandwagon. This will make sure that person/seller at the bottom of the pyramid is able to sell his product to anyone across the world.

Technology (and these PROTOCOLs) have brought down the overall cost & hence everyone can participate.

Equal opportunity, Equal choice…No information asymmetry.

What is PROMPT ENGINEERING

Raktim Singh
-
1
What is PROMPT ENGINEERING

 

Prompt engineering (PE) is a concept in Natural Language Processing (NLP), which is part of Artificial Intelligence.

Here, the description of the task is given as input, e.g., as a question instead of it being implicitly given.

It refers to describing a given task as a set of inputs or prompts to the AI Engine.

We can think of AI Engine having a model. So, the prompt should have sufficient information to describe the problem and its context to help the model define the solution space from which responses are expected and extract the best response to your query.

Prompt engineering typically works by converting one or more tasks to a prompt-based dataset and training a language model. Here the language model is trained with data/information given in the prompt. For that reason, it is called “prompt-based learning”.

Prompt engineering can work from a large “frozen” pretrained language model.

In that case, only the representation of the prompt is learned (i.e., optimized), using methods such as “prefix-tuning” or “prompt tuning”.

A prompt can have one or more of the following components:

  • Instruction(s) or Question(s)
  • Input data (optional)
  • Examples (optional)

Language Model

At this point of time, we need to understand language model, which are behind these Prompt Engineering.

In AI technology, Natural Language processing (NLP) is an important component. NLP is getting advanced/better with Large Language Models (LLMs).

The LLMs are neural networks that have potentially hundreds of billions of parameters.

They are trained on a big text data…to the tune of hundreds of gigabytes of text data.

In early 2007, research scholars at Google, T. Brants et al. proved empirically that the language translation quality (indicated by the BiLingual Evaluation Understudy (BLEU) score) improves with increase in language model size.

Over the years, lot of work has happened across companies in this direction.

Few well known large language models are:

  1. OpenAI GPT-3– Released in July 2020, this model has 175 Billion parameters, trained on over 570 GB of text data from This model has been trained on NVIDIA V100 GPUs.

It uses a supercomputer for training purposes, hosted in Microsoft’s Azure cloud, consisting of 285,000 CPU cores and 10,000 high-end GPUs.

2. Cohere platform – A platform which offered both generative language models and representation language models.

3. Megatron-Turing Natural Language Generation model (MT-NLG) – Has 530 Billion parameters and is developed by NVIDIA in collaboration with Microsoft , trained on NVIDIA’s Selene machine learning supercomputer.

4. GPT-Neo, GPT-J, and GPT-NeoX – These are LLMs trained on ~825 GB of Open Source language modeling dataset called the Pile dataset. These models work well when provided with few examples.

Models like OpenAI GPT-3 can accept input instructions in English, Spanish, French, etc. However, since the model is trained on dataset that is largely in English the most likely outcomes are in English.

The model provides users with parameters (such as Temperature and Top_p) to direct the model to be more flexible with respect to its output.

If you have to use GPT-3/ChatGPT or any other model, these points should be kept in mind

  1. Choose the correct level of learning for the prompt
  2. Design the prompt effectively

Designing the prompt is very important. This entails

  1. Ability to clearly define the context
  2. Ability to clearly define the intent?
  1. Provide examples that establish a clear ‘pattern’ between the inputs and the expected output?
  2. Setting the model parameters correctly.

The input or instruction along with its context provided to the model is call a prompt. A model responds to the prompt with a response or completion. The better the prompt is designed, more accurate is the output response.

The accuracy /correctness output from the LLM depends on the ‘accuracy’ or ‘correctness or detail’ of the prompt itself. In other words, the input prompts to GPT-3 must be engineered to obtain the output that is closer to the desired output.

GPT-3 provides a series of models such as ‘code-davinci-002’ (which belong to the CODEX models series) which provide translation between natural language and code.

Over a dozen programming languages are currently supported by GPT-3. Some of the popular languages supported are Python, JavaScript, SQL, CSS, GO, Shell, etc.

The input prompt may be an instruction in natural language or a piece of code. The CODEX models can bring in huge efficiency in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

  1. It can generate code based on requirement in natural language
  2. Refactor code and correct various errors in the code
  3. Provide necessary comments in the code
  4. Create document for a given piece of input code

As of date the GPT-3 is most robust in terms of Python code generation (as per the OpenAI documentation).

GPT-3 –  the hottest buzzword

GPT or Generative Pre-trained Transformer is the hottest buzzword in the field of AI, specifically, in Natural Language Processing. GPT is a large-scale Machine Learning model that uses deep learning techniques to support natural language conversations, suitable to a context and time.

GPT-3 is the third iteration of the GPT language model, originally developed by OpenAI. GPT-3 uses past data and predictive analytics to enable conversational interactions.

It can mine internet data (small-sized text/pictures/videos) and generates large volumes of contextually relevant text/pictures/videos.

It can perform various tasks like

  1. Translating text from one language to another
  2. Writing (Generating) songs or poems
  3. Generate new text/story
  4. Generate software code.

This works on the sampling methodology and therefore, the larger the model or sampling size, the more accurate and sophisticated the conversation or interaction between the GPT-3 Chatbot and customer is likely to be.

When it was first released in 2018, GPT had 117 million parameters.

Today, per the model sizes, GPT-3 has 175 billion parameters, which help the tool analyze relevant data.

GPT-3 175B identifies patterns and associations, and studies the relevance of data contextually to help the conversational interface between itself and its customers. It works over different layers to develop a model.

Each layer is an improvement over the previous one and the most recent layer will be the most intelligent at that point in time.

It is possible to edit in this model, i.e. remove any layer, insert/add another layer. This improves the ability of the model to serve at its optimum.

Based on examples, GPT-3 can develop associations  of various inputs and generate text-like sentences, passages, paragraphs, new songs and pictures.

It can also identify patterns and associated words/-objects with each other. Thus, when asked to generate a sentence, passage or song, based on the input training data, the output will seem as if it has been “created” by a human.

Benefits of GPT-3

  • GPT has the potential to reduce the number of labeled examples needed to train a deep neural network.
  • It is a set of techniques that can train a model to predict the labels of a random subset of input data that are not labelled.
  • This allows the neural network to learn and develop high-quality features that were earlier possible with high-quality labeled data.
  • The current iterations require minimal training and input data to generate an output that is akin to a human-generated one.

On March 15 2022, OpenAI made available new versions of GPT-3. On November 30 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, which was fine-tuned from a model in the GPT-3.5 series.

ChatGPT: Engaging naturally

As the name suggests, ChatGPT is a chatbot built on OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 family of Large Language Models. This is an improvement over the current chatbots in that it has the memory of previous interactions, the ability to filter content for defined purposes, and a few additional features.

Launched in November 2022, ChatGPT garnered unprecedented attention, given its ability to generate detailed responses for queries across many areas.

ChatGPT is powered by AI that can be used to ask queries.

OpenAI developed ChatGPT using a methodology known as Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback or RLHF.

In this method, the AI is trained by using a reward and punishment system. The desired action is rewarded, while the undesired one is punished.

This system of yes or no enables the RLHF to not just ask the right questions, but also generate/ provide the right answers. This methodology also enables conversational interaction that is free of jargon and technical terms.

In simpler terms, ChatGPT is a way of prompting AI to address a question in a human-like manner.

This feature makes it possible for a user to engage in a human-like conversation with ChatGPT and even generate original content.

But what makes ChatGPT stand apart is the “extra training ” that it received from human AI trainers.

The initial language model was fed with a vast number of questions and answers, which were later incorporated into its dataset.

The program was also prompted to respond to a variety of questions, which experts ranked from best to worst.

This is the real reason for ChatGPT’ s ability to generate original, human-like responses after understanding the question and gathering the appropriate information.

The question to be asked now is how companies can make use of ChatGPT.

Since it has been developed under the Large Language Model and Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, it can be used to not just automate repetitive tasks, but also to compile research, draft marketing content, generate code/customized instructions, provide after-sales service, increase customer engagement and more.

An important point to note here is that unlike other conversational Chatbots, which learn by the interaction happening between them and a user asking questions, ChatGPT has been trained with external data, i.e., data which was available on various digital platforms like Wikipedia, filtered version of Common crawl etc.

DALL-E2

DALL-E and DALL-E 2 are deep learning models developed by OpenAI to generate digital images from natural language descriptions, called “prompts”.

With ChatGPT, one can generate various text ( story/poem..etc). In similar way, with DALL-E2, one can generate various images/pictures. It also uses a version of GPT-3.

DALL-E , the software’s name is a blend of words. It has been taken from the names of animated robot Pixar character  WALL-E and the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali.

What is Quantum Computing

Raktim Singh
-
0
What is Quantum Computing

Quantum computing uses the underlying principles of quantum physics to store data and do computations.

For certain type of computations, Quantum computer takes only minutes, which a best supercomputer would have taken days or months to perform.

What is special about Quantum Computer

In our current day to day life, we use classical computer. Our laptop, smartphone can be called as classical computers. They store/encode information in binary “bits”. This bit can be either 1s or 0s.

But in a quantum computer, the basic unit of memory is a quantum bit or qubit.

So, while a bit, or binary digit (used in classical computer) , can have a value either 0 or 1 , a qubit can have a value that is either 0 , 1 or a quantum superposition of 0 and 1.

So, a quantum computer can work with zero and one at the same time, using something that is called superposition quantum states.

Here we need to understand superposition and quantum entanglement

Superposition: It’s the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple states at the same time until it is measured. Superposition allows quantum objects to simultaneously exist in more than one state or location. This means that an object can be in two states at one time while remaining a single object.

This superposition state creates a practically infinite range of possibilities, allowing for incredibly fast simultaneous and parallel calculations.

 

Quantum Entanglement: This is the state when two particle links together even if they are miles apart. It effectively means that these 2 particles share a common quantum state. So, if we observe one particle, information of other entangled particle can be arrived at (even if these 2 particles have lights years distance between them…). On similar note, in entangled system, any action to one of these particles will invariably impact the other particle.

So, in Quantum entanglement, when two atoms are connected, or entangled, even if you have physically separated them. Now, if you change the properties of one of them, the property of another atom also changes instantly.

Qubits are made using physical systems, such as the spin of an electron or the orientation of a photon.

Now with the quantum superposition and quantum entanglement (where qubits are linked together even if they are miles apart), a series of qubits can represent different things/states simultaneously.

In a classical computer, with eight bits, we can represent any number between 0 and 255 (and this applies for quantum computer also).

But in quantum computer, each extra qubits, exponentially increases the numbers, which can be represented. We can safely say that a few hundred entangled qubits would be enough to represent more numbers than there are atoms in the universe.

Quantum computing power grows exponentially with each qubit rather than linearly as in the case of linear bits due to the multi state computational capability of qubits.

So, while a 2-bit register in a classical computer can store only one of four binary configurations (00, 01, 10, or 11) at any given time, a 2-qubit register in a quantum computer can store all four numbers simultaneously, because each qubit represents two values. If more qubits are added, the increased capacity is expanded exponentially.

 

For example, a quantum computer with 1 qubit can simulate 2 classical bits, 2 qubits can simulate 4 classical bits (00,01,10,11), 3 qubits can simulate 8 classical bits (000, 001, 011,111,100,101,110) etc.

Taking this further, it means, 50 qubits can simulate 2^50 classical bits.

This is a big differentiator. In situations where there are many possible combinations, quantum computers can consider them simultaneously.

So, while a classical computer will consider/calculate each of combination in sequential/linear way.

Quantum computer will try to execute all those possible combinations, simultaneously. That’s real parallel processing.

 

Possible usage of quantum computing

As quantum computer (with qubits) can store large numbers of values and can execute on any possible equation in a simultaneous way, it is very good, whenever we are dealing with any optimization problem.

For examples, in case, you are planning a trip to various countries, there are various factors to consider before arriving at an optimal plan.

Just for our understanding, let’s consider that you want to visit 12 cities in Europe, which are located across 8 countries.  These can be factors, which you may want to consider,

  1. What is the cheapest transport available between 2 cities.
  2. On which days, hotels rates are cheapest in a city.
  3. You also wanted to attend, say some special festival in 2 cites, which occurs only on a specific date.
  4. You also want to include at least enjoy rail journey to enjoy the panoramic view.
  5. You want to make sure that during your visit, weather in that city is pleasant.

If you notice, planning an itinerary, can have many possible paths. For situation/problems like that, quantum computer works best and can arrive at best optimal path in a quick time.

On similar note, to predict, what can be weather tomorrow, various inputs are considered.

Here also, quantum computer can arrive at accurate forecast in a very fast way.

Note that, today, with classical computers also, we can solve these problems. I have given these examples, mainly for our understanding point of view.

But there are many businesses sector, where one need to consider many inputs/variables and arrive at optimal path or solution by taking into account various parallel paths.          So with the ‘parallel processing’ power of Quantum computing, we can solve certain type of problems, very quickly.

These can be the sectors, in which quantum computer can play a big role.

  1. Pharmaceuticals

Today, a new drug takes an average of billion dollar and more than 10-15 years, before it reaches the market. R&D team need consider various parameter, drug efficacy, toxicity, correct molecule identification etc. before final drug is approved.

So, here also, there are various paths (input to consider), before a suitable drug can be made. With quantum computer, we can reduce the overall cost as well as time.

  1. Chemicals

Here also, Quantum computing can reduce R&D cost, quickly identify new molecule, improve the design of new catalysts and save time for all stakeholders.

  1. Automotive and Other Manufacturing plants

This industry can also benefit in R&D, better product design as well as improve the internal working of manufacturing plant. In any manufacturing plant, assemble line consists of various tasks.  If those task and hence if overall assemble line can be optimized, it helps a lot in shortening the cycle time and reduce waste/idle time.

  1. Financial Industry

Here Quantum computing can help in portfolio management and overall risk management. On a similar note, it can help the lending industry by considering, borrower’s history/score, lender’s score, project for which work loan is planned (and hence chances of completion of project), collateral which is provided, …and hence arriving at optimal interest rate.

Other possible use cases can involve

  1. Power and Grid optimization.
  2. Weather forecasting
  3. Insurance sector
  4. Fraud detection
  5. Cyber security
  6. Logistics and route/traffic optimization
  7. Supply chain & inventory optimization
  8. Understanding the various event/phenomena of nature, molecule and sub-molecule level interactions which can lead to breakthroughs in chemistry, biology, healthcare, and nanotechnology.
  9. AI and Machine learning.

10.Any planning exercise, which can involve numerous inputs and can involve multiple paths before arriving at final solution.

 

Quantum computing is effective at modelling probabilities and permutations. It’s non-deterministic. So, while in classical physics, we deal with certainty, here we deal with ‘probabilities.

Challenges

As of today, quantum computers are highly sensitive to heats or external atmosphere.

To add to this, electromagnetic fields and collisions with air molecules can cause a qubit to lose its quantum properties. This process, known as quantum decoherence, causes the system to crash.

Today, quantum computing faces evident problems regarding scalability and incoherence.

We can say that Quantum computers are extremely sensitive and require very specific pressure and temperature conditions and insulation to operate correctly.

In case, these quantum computers ( qubits) get exposed to external particles, we got error in measurement.

For this reason, it’s important that Quantum computers are stored at a safe, sealed, and cool place. They should get insulated from earth’s magnetic field or external environment and must have almost no atmospheric pressure.  

We still don’t have a fully error-corrected, fault-tolerant quantum computer.

At the time of writing of this article, we can say that we are still 8-10 years away from getting a fault tolerant Quantum computer.

 

Conclusion

 

Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging technology that harnesses the laws of quantum physics to solve problems too complex for classical computers.

 

 

It works by using the principles of quantum physics (the physics of sub-atomic particles), including quantum entanglement and quantum superposition.

 

With the help of principles like superposition & quantum entanglement, Quantum computing uses a computation method which is very different from traditional method used by classical computers.

 

1...383940...45Page 39 of 45