Country's first 'AI powered village' to be built in Chandina

Koilain is a remote village in Chandina upazila of Cumilla. Pandit Shilbhadra, the chancellor of the ancient Nalanda Mahavihara University, was born in this village in the upazila's Joag Union. The country's first artificial intelligence village (AI Powered Village) is going to be built in that village.

The activities of the village will be taken forward with these three slogans: empowerment, innovation and growth of Bangladesh. A charitable organization named Patwari Foundation has taken this initiative and has undertaken various plans. It is said that the project will be implemented with the financial support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) by the UK-based company D-Ready and the technical assistance of the AIIT organization of Bangladesh.

Ratan Pal, headmaster of Koilain Tulpai High School, said about the program, two teams have been initially formed to implement the 'Artificial Intelligence Village' project. One team has 20 students from classes 6 to 10 of Koilain -Tulpai High School. They are talented and energetic. The other team has 20 members from the helpless and poor community of the village. For that purpose, two teams have been trained separately. Patwari Foundation will provide them with improved varieties of papaya, chilli, vegetable seedlings and chicken chicks. So that by nurturing them, they can become self-sufficient with their families.

He further said that the student team has been trained through a workshop at the Koilain -Tulpai High School auditorium. The other team has also been trained earlier in the village. Former Head of the Department of Computer Science and Technology of Dhaka University Dr. Alamgir Hossain, Dr. Parveen Akhtar provided training to the expert team members.

Dr. Alamgir Hossain, CEO of UK-based company Digital Readiness and Intelligent Systems Ltd. (D-Ready) and former head of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Dhaka University, said - The team members will raise papaya, chilli, vegetable seedlings and chicken chicks in modern management. They will take pictures of them every 7 days and upload them. If any disease or problem is detected, they will be solved with the help of artificial intelligence. In the meantime, we have provided laptops, water and soil testing sensors, iPads, smartphones, projectors and a book called 'AI in School' to the headmaster of Koilain High School.

The researcher also said that the Patwari Foundation will not give money to any member. By providing training to the members, the poor people of the village will be developed as entrepreneurs. So that they try to create new projects and become self-reliant and create employment for others.

Dr. Alamgir Hossain, who has taught as a professor of artificial intelligence (AI) at three universities, including Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, wants to use his experience to build an AI-powered village in his hometown of Koilain.