Key highlights

1. Chanukya Patnaik is rescuing humanity from obsolescence through free education. Founder and CEO of AI Planet (formerly DPhi), a digital platform that educates people on cutting-edge AI developments and also adds AI capabilities into any software product with its marketplace of plug-and-play AI models, Chanukya empowers individuals to gain employment opportunities and make significant contributions to solving real-world issues using the power of artificial intelligence.

2. Chanukya’s passion for free education was inspired by his mother, who navigated life without formal education and learned to teach to make ends meet, and as a result, was determined to educate her children so they could meaningfully influence society. Chanukya carries her legacy forward by sending ripples of positive impact through the AI community.

3. As an entrepreneur, lifelong learner, and AI savant, Chanukya advises young entrepreneurs to stay true to themselves and to adopt a learner attitude. For AI enthusiasts, he recommends using generative AI to gain an intuitive grasp of complex topics, be it through the lens of tennis or the vast realm of pop culture.

Innovative Humanitarian

Growing up, Chanukya Patnaik experienced the necessity of education through his mother's struggles. Now, he is directly affecting lives through free education as the virtuous leader of the artificial intelligence awareness movement. At the nexus of his role as an entrepreneur, problem solver, and data scientist, is a deep and profound passion for accessible education and a powerful desire to elevate humanity. As the Founder and CEO of AI Planet (formerly DPhi), Chanukya's mission is to empower individuals and businesses with practical training and tools, equipping them for an era where AI utilization is indispensable in every industry for survival and success. Chanukya's online platform is a global ecosystem that offers free AI education and a community-driven AI marketplace, aiming to solve key challenges across various sectors and shape a better future for humanity.

“We don't just want people to acquire certain skills. We want them to utilize those skills to solve a meaningful problem, use them to find a job, or do anything else.”

Before the inception of AI Planet, Chanukya was a Data Scientist and Founding Team Member of Complidata, a fintech startup dedicated to combating financial crime through AI within the banking industry. Before that, he was a Consultant at CodeChef, a renowned competitive programming platform based in India. Chanukya has also dabbled in marketing and community engagement, serving as Head of Marketing at CodeChef. He recently solidified his commitment to revolutionizing education by delivering an eloquent TEDx Talk about unveiling the transformative power of AI in learning. His versatility is a true indication of how excellence is merely a side effect of meteorite-sized goals.

The Emergence of AI Planet

Chanukya's journey into data science and AI began in 2016 with self-learning and fintech consulting. After mastering its nuances, he soon was part of the founding team at Complidata, a company that offers anti-money laundering AI solutions to financial institutions. While working for these entities at Complidata, Chanukya noticed something troublesome. On the one hand, massive investments were being made in AI. On the other hand, less than 10-15% of a financial institution’s projects went to production, leaving the rest to be discarded—along with the time, effort, and investment spent on them. Chanukya had noticed a genuine problem in the state of operation and was always looking for meaningful ones to solve. He had a legitimate idea that could be realized.

Always vigilant for issues to address, Chanukya had identified a pressing problem in the current operations, sparking a feasible solution.

“And then it hit me. The entire purpose of me diving into this field was to drive some tangible impact or start something of my own that would drive it.”

And so, he created AI Planet.

Chanukya aimed to use the company to tackle two main issues: the lack of awareness about AI and its potential and the challenge of effectively applying AI to solve meaningful business and social problems. AI Planet offers a solution to both by educating the public on artificial intelligence, swiftly updating its repository, and creating a community marketplace for plug-and-play AI models with data privacy and security first approach.

AI Planet’s Novel Influence

It all began with a data science bootcamp. AI Planet, then known as DPhi, collaborated with more than 20 seasoned data scientists to offer interested individuals five weeks of data science training. Chanukya expected a few hundred people to sign up—and the fewer numbers would mean more attention spent on quality instruction—instead, around 4,000 people signed up—during the peak of COVID-19 of all times. The world was already going through a lot at that time, which drove Chanukya to offer as much meaningful support as he could. Since its launch in 2020, AI Planet has helped over 300,000 individuals from more than 150 countries with free data science and AI education. Its community members have earned employment opportunities, solved industry problems, participated in and won competitions, and some have even raised funds for their own startups. But when Chanukya first created the community platform and took all the steps to build it, he had no idea it would expand to this size and have such an impact.

“You don't do all these things upfront, thinking, ‘Okay, this will happen in this way.’ Once you start doing it, you start seeing the success, and it just pulls you in, and you continue doing whatever you're doing.”

Now that the platform's wheels are in motion, there's nothing stopping it and its purpose. What separates AI Planet from other platforms is the lightning speed at which it offers expert sessions on the newest technologies, thanks to strong connections with proficient networks. The platform maintains a consistent pace in keeping up with the latest advancements in the field, including cutting-edge topics like Large Language Models (LLMs), LangChain, and LlamaIndex and deploying techniques of advanced AI models such as stable diffusion. The platform hosts a variety of AI challenges in different industries, which allow users to sharpen their skills through real-world issues such as earthquake prediction and safeguarding NFTs. These resources for free and address the latest developments from the beginning, providing users with up-to-date and accessible content.

Past Influence and Future Plans

Chanukya’s passion for free education dates back to his childhood with his mother, a single parent and resilient individual.

"I think I was three years old when my father left, and then at that time, her only ambition was to get her kids educated so they could do something meaningful."

Emergent Luminary. Image created by author using Midjourney, 2023.

Lacking formal education herself and teaching mathematics to make ends meet, she worked tirelessly and fought her circumstances to give her children a better life. As a result, Chanukya was brought up with the school of thought that educating a person transforms not only them, but also the people around them. The value of education will always outlast the value of material assets, and unlike objects, education cannot be stolen. Chanukya's mother holds two degrees and has influenced thousands of students over nearly three decades of teaching, so it's no surprise that her son has weaved the fabric of his impressive platform with such compassionate threads.

“These are some of the schools of thought I was brought up with, and that's one of the many reasons why we never saw education as a commodity—but as a means for a better future.

AI Planet's success is also credited to its founding team’s resilience, which faced a multitude of challenges, including the co-founder leaving the project for personal reasons and a consistently rough terrain of obstacles. The team didn’t abandon hope, however, and expressed its faith by voicing reasons why the platform was going to outlast their legacies.

AI Planet has also been backed by government innovation agencies from Luxembourg, Chile, and Belgium to create value in their ecosystems. They have the opportunity to push more AI awareness in schools and universities, and this power motivates them even more to positively benefit the areas supporting them.

AI Planet’s impact on the generative AI community has been strong and wide, but Chanukya still has bigger goals to accomplish. The aim for the future is to double down on their marketplace and continue focusing strongly on education. More concrete plans are to equip a few thousand small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) with advanced AI models and bring 5 million people into the existing pool of their global AI community.

Advice for AI Aficionados

Embarking on a journey of data science and AI as an entrepreneur, learner, or both can be exciting and challenging. With a focus on continuous learning, understanding the power of data, and embracing entrepreneurship, Chanukya offers a roadmap for aspiring individuals to thrive in the AI era. He bears the good news that now is the best time to learn about anything, especially with generative AI such as ChatGPT at their disposal. They can request a topic to be explained in a way that makes the most sense to them, cutting through cognitive learning barriers and gaining an intuitive understanding of the concept.

“If they are a big fan of Roger Federer or tennis, they can ask ChatGPT to explain the concept of regression with intuitive examples of tennis.”

Chanukya also explains that data science is all about scientifically applying data to make meaningful decisions, which can be leveraged through AI automation. He believes that data-driven decisions will become increasingly rapid and remain the primary solution for a long time, so AI and data literacy are critical to staying relevant in this era.

For entrepreneurs, Chanukya advises being themselves and constantly learning. He states that entrepreneurship is about seeing opportunities even in the most challenging times and working with people who can see past current obstacles. Seeing the opportunity in adversity for meaningful impact will bring you far. These core qualities will equip them with the ability to solve any problems in their path.

Conclusion

Chanukya Patnaik is making ripples within humanity through free education. Founder and CEO of AI Planet and an entrepreneur, data scientist, and problem solver, Chanukya uses his brilliance and ingenuity to prepare the world for AI disruption by equipping his users with invaluable practical skills. Community members of the platform are solving real-world problems, receiving employment opportunities, and raising funds for meaningful initiatives, all because of Chanukya’s fervour for positively impacting society and creating a bright future. He credits his team’s collective resilience and candidness for the success of AI Planet’s creation and growth and his mother's striking determination as a single parent for his purpose-driven goals. As an entrepreneur, Chanukya advises orbiting around the core principles of being yourself and always being open to learning. As an AI expert, he also asserts the power of generative AI to learn complex topics in a way that makes the most sense to you—tennis analogies or pop culture universes.