New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) A significant majority of women find it crucial to use Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to boost their careers, yet only one-third are prepared by employers to use the technology, said a report on Thursday.

The report by the IT industry’s apex body Nasscom was launched on the sidelines of the Nasscom Global Inclusion Summit at Bengaluru.

The findings point out that women view Gen AI tools as a significant boost to their perceived competence. About 45 per cent of the surveyed women in tech roles experienced higher confidence compared to their non-tech peers.

In addition, the report outlined that Gen AI adoption is driven by efficiency and innovation, acknowledging its transformative potential.

About 95 per cent of junior, 96 per cent of mid-management, and 100 per cent of senior management women are ready to invest more time to achieve professional success in GenAI. And 1 in 5 women was also found to use GenAI tools almost daily with nearly 35 per cent of senior management women reporting daily usage.

While GenAI can act as an equaliser for women in tech, only 35 per cent of surveyed women respondents felt completely prepared by their employers.

Further, challenges for the lower adoption and usage of GenAI tools among women include limited knowledge, lack of trust, restricted access to these tools, and fear of competence scrutiny. From entry-level roles to the C-suite, women consistently point to knowledge gaps as the primary challenge in adopting Gen AI, the report said.

Despite significant progress in diversity and AI/Gen AI adoption, Sangeeta Gupta, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, Nasscom, voiced out the substantial gaps that continue to limit women’s full potential in the tech industry.

She noted that as “Gen AI is set to dominate the tech industry, it is critical to address key challenges, to empower women in these roles”.

Sreyssha George, Managing Director and Partner, at Boston Consulting Group added that while “globally, senior women lead in GenAI adoption, India lags with a 64 per cent gender disparity in AI leadership”.

She stated that to “capture the $320 billion AI market, India’s tech sector needs diversity”.

“This will ensure effective systems by eliminating biases and incorporating varying ethical perspectives,” George said

To bridge the gender gap, the report called out organisations to play a pivotal role in driving GenAI adoption by creating environments that support and encourage these technologies.

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) Tech giant Meta on Thursday launched its Llama Impact Grants programme in India, to extend access to the opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI) to more organisations around the world.

The Llama 3.1 AI model comes with 405B parameters and is the largest and most capable open-source AI model.

The Llama 3.1 Impact Grants programme is designed to support the most compelling uses of Meta’s open-source AI model for societal benefit.

“Today, we’re excited to announce applications are open for the Llama 3.1 Impact Grants. We’re seeking proposals that employ the new features and capabilities of our newest LLM model, Llama 3.1, for economically and socially impactful projects,” the company said in a statement.

Llama 3.1 incorporates previously unsupported languages (including French, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai), and is efficient in general knowledge, steerability, reasoning, maths, tool use, and multilingual translation.

Meta said this is the second iteration of the Llama Impact Grants programme and will award a total of $2 million.

During the inaugural Llama Impact Grants programme, which supported innovative use cases of Meta’s open-source AI models, Llama 2 and Llama 3, the company received over 800 applications from over 90 countries.

Indian organisations can apply for the grant via an open call for applications and also through the regional events series.

During open calls, eligible organisations can apply online for an award of up to $500,000 to support their projects.

Regional events series to be held globally will provide technical guidance and mentorship to prospective applicants and attendees will be considered for a specialised award of up to $100,000, in addition to being considered for the open call award of up to $500,000.

“We believe AI, more so than any other modern technology, has the potential to increase human productivity, creativity, and quality of life while accelerating economic growth and unlocking progress in education, science, and innovation,” Meta said.

It noted that open-source AI will help ensure that people everywhere can access the benefits and opportunities AI provides.