Hotmail founder Sabeer visits Jamia, delivers special talk
Entrepreneur and founder of Hotmail & Showreel Sabeer Bhatia delivered a Special Talk on ‘Technology and Communication in Modern Times’ at Mir Anis Hall of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) today.
Javed Yunus, Advisor, Aramco & Co-Founder Showreel was the Guest of Honour of the programme.
Jamia Vice Chancellor and Patron, Prof. Najma Akhtar (Padma Shri) chaired the Special Talk which was organised by the Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, JMI.
The Vice Chancellor in her welcome address said that the scientific innovations in terms of new technologies in machine learning and the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent times have transformed human society and it continues to have an impact on human lives.
“It is rightly believed that this world has become a global village where people can communicate with each other from all corners of the planet. It facilitates people’s lives in many ways. There has been a movement away from face-to-face meetings to virtual communication. It was best experienced in the recent global health crisis the COVID-19 Pandemic,” she said.
Sabeer Bhatia started his talk by sharing his early experience at the Silicon Valley, how the idea of Hotmail came and how it was implemented. Speaking about entrepreneurship, he said “Every company starts with an idea and it is an idea which is more important than the profit motive. Entrepreneurship is more about testing of an idea, an idea that can transform things and how it can benefit the society.”
Bhatia said that business plans in India usually get stuck as people think more about money and profit and not thinking what problem it is going to solve. Speaking about his new venture Showreel, he said it is a platform for entrepreneurship where any entrepreneur can download the app and kickstart their entrepreneurial journey by showcasing their ideas, connect with mentors and investors.
Bhatia further talked about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in different fields and how it is changing our lives across different sectors and industries.
He said that AI based chatbots like ChatGPT and other technologies are making a change in education sector too. AI powered chatbots can answer students’ questions and provide feedback in real time.
AI is enabling personalised learning experiences and improving students outcome. He ended his lecture by discussing about micro degrees where micro contents based education is given to the students and they are assessed accordingly.
The Special Talk was attended by a large number of faculty members and students who raised questions during the Q & A session and were satisfactorily answered by the speaker. The program ended with a vote of thanks.
After the lecture, Bhatia visited the Department of Computer Engineering, JMI where he addressed and interacted with the participants of the ongoing Short Term Training Programme (STTP) on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
