Mathematician and Super 30 founder Anand Kumar has voiced disagreement with Infosys co‑founder Nandan Nilekani’s suggestion to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) at the last minute to prevent paper leaks in major examinations such as NEET.
In a detailed post on his official social media handle, Kumar outlined three key concerns, warning that the proposal could unintentionally disadvantage underprivileged students and raise logistical and accuracy issues.
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‘New Barriers for Poor Students’
Kumar stressed that preventing paper leaks is crucial but cautioned against making the entire examination system computer-based without considering the challenges faced by students in remote areas and economically disadvantaged families.
“Preventing paper leaks is extremely important,” Kumar wrote, “but how appropriate would it be to make the entire examination system computer‑based for this purpose? Even today, there are lakhs of talented children in remote villages and poor families who do not have adequate access to computers. We must not inadvertently create a new barrier for these children in our efforts to prevent cheating.”
Concerns Over Facilities, Question Accuracy
Kumar also questioned whether test centres in remote areas could match the facilities and security of those in metropolitan cities. “Even if a test centre is available in a remote area, will the facilities and security there be comparable to those at a test centre in a metropolitan city?” he asked.
His third concern focused on the accuracy of AI‑selected questions. “When a question bank containing thousands of questions is created, from which AI will select questions at the last minute, what guarantee is there that all the questions will be correct?”
‘Not Against AI’
Clarifying his stance, Kumar said he was not opposed to technology or AI itself. He acknowledged that AI could revolutionise education and assist experts in preparing question papers, but emphasised that “there is a big difference between using AI to assist experts and allowing it to make the final decision.”