Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government’s Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications (SIEP) Wednesday released a Malayalam-language encyclopaedia on AI. From explaining the name and history of AI to its application in health and agricultural sectors, the new encyclopaedia attempts to cover everything related to the trending tech in Malayalam.
State Minister of Culture and Youth Affairs Saji Cherian released the book at the Kerala Legislative International Book Festival (KLIBF) held in Thiruvananthapuram. He said the encyclopaedia would address every concept related to technology in Malayalam.
“AI is something that the world discusses a lot these days, which is bringing revolutionary changes in human lives and interactions. There is also concern that the technology would result in job losses. But, we want to use it for the betterment and development of Kerala society,” Cherian said while releasing the publication.
The minister also released another encyclopedia on the Vaikom Satyagraha prepared by the same institute to mark the 100th anniversary of the historic movement against caste discrimination.
The SIEP, under the state culture ministry, was founded in 1961 and has the task of promoting Malayalam as a medium of knowledge.
Dr Muse Mary George, director of SIEP, said the Malayalam encyclopaedia is a small attempt to explain AI’s functions, science and the ethics to be followed while using it.
The 212-page encyclopaedia categorises concepts related to AI under 132 headers, written by field experts. This includes teachers and researchers from the state’s technical institutes such as Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) and the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Kottayam.
Aimed at familiarising people with the technology, each chapter of the publication deals with the day-to-day application of AI, while also explaining trending topics like ChatGPT, supercomputers and humanoid robots for the general public in a simplified manner.
The groundwork for the book was laid in March 2024 with the creation of a 12-member advisory council, Rajeshkumar S., editor of the book, told ThePrint. He further said it was a herculean task for the council to find suitable authors who could explain AI concepts in Malayalam.
“It was difficult to translate technical terms in Malayalam. In many instances, we retained English words and gave a translation that was unanimously agreed by the authors,” he said.
Highlighting the contemporary nature of the book, Rajeshkumar said the team attempted to include the latest developments in AI including the 2024 Nobel Prizes awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for their work in artificial neural networks and machine learning.
“If we had published the same thing in English, it would have sold much more. But we wanted people in Kerala to learn it in Malayalam as it’s being used by everyone,” he said.
(Edited by Sampurna Panigrahi)
Also read: MeiTY’s IndiaAI seeks proposals for ethical AI use, deepfake detection & risk mitigation frameworks