News

The Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI), IIT Delhi proudly celebrates a significant academic milestone as Prerna Agarwal becomes its first PhD graduate, following the successful defense of her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Srikanta Bedathur.

Her thesis, titled "Knowledge Graph-Based Question Answering with Minimal Supervision", addresses a fundamental challenge in artificial intelligence: enabling accurate and efficient reasoning over structured knowledge bases with limited annotated training data.

Prerna is also a Research Scientist at IBM Research India, contributing to the integration of foundational AI research with real-world applications. Her doctoral research has resulted in publications at leading international conferences, including ACL, EMNLP, and COLING.

Her research contributions have also earned recognition through her selection for the ACM IKDD CODS YRS Rising Star Award 2026, highlighting the impact of her work in artificial intelligence.

As the first PhD graduate of Yardi ScAI, Prerna's achievement represents an important milestone in the School's academic journey and reflects its commitment to advancing impactful research in artificial intelligence.

The Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence, IIT Delhi extends its heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Prerna Agarwal on this remarkable achievement and wishes her continued success in her research career.

The Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI), IIT Delhi will host a local site for the 4th edition of the Open Scientific Intelligence Hackathon, scheduled for 21–22 October 2026.

The international hackathon brings together scientists, mathematicians, artificial intelligence researchers, students, and practitioners for an intensive collaborative sprint aimed at developing practical solutions at the intersection of AI and scientific research.

The IIT Delhi site will provide participants with a shared space to collaborate, exchange ideas, and work together on their projects. The event is open to AI enthusiasts interested in exploring how recent developments in artificial intelligence can be applied to scientific challenges, as well as researchers interested in using AI to accelerate their work.

Previous editions of the hackathon have produced projects including automated research assistants, novel data pipelines, and agentic laboratory workflows, with several projects subsequently contributing to research publications.

The event provides participants with an opportunity to form teams, prototype new ideas, experiment with emerging AI technologies, and explore their potential for advancing scientific discovery.

Event Details

Dates: 21–22 October 2026
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Venue: IIT Delhi

Hackathon Registration:
https://llmhackathon.github.io/

IIT Delhi Site Registration:
https://qr-codes.io/mtyWZy

Students and researchers interested in AI for Science, scientific discovery, autonomous research systems, and emerging AI technologies are encouraged to participate.

The Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI), IIT Delhi, congratulates Prof. Jayadeva, Associate Faculty member at Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence, on being selected for the Google Cloud Faculty Research Grant 2026.

Prof. Jayadeva has received the grant for his research proposal titled “Hardware–Software Co-Design of a Low-Power RISC-V–GPU System for Programmable Graphics and Edge Computing.”

The proposed research focuses on developing a hardware–software co-designed computing platform comprising a custom SIMD micro-GPU architecture integrated with an open-source RISC-V host processor, along with a custom compiler and OpenGL driver stack.

The work aims to enable programmable and energy-efficient acceleration for graphics and edge-computing workloads. It addresses research areas including custom silicon, systems for AI, and localized edge computing, with potential relevance to secure and resource-constrained computing environments.

The grant recognizes the technical novelty and broader potential of the proposed research.

ScAI congratulates Prof. Jayadeva on this achievement and wishes him continued success in his research.

Prof. Sudipan Saha, Assistant Professor at the Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI), IIT Delhi, recently participated in a panel discussion on News9 titled “AI Gone Rogue? OpenAI Faces New Questions Over Autonomous AI Agents.”

The discussion explored the rapid evolution of agentic and autonomous AI systems, with a focus on emerging concerns around AI safety, alignment, system autonomy, accountability, safeguards, and meaningful human oversight.

Prof. Saha was joined by Dr. Kanishk Gaur and Nandan Mishra, with Sneha Koshy moderating the discussion. The panel examined the challenges that may arise as AI systems become increasingly capable of planning, reasoning, and carrying out multi-step tasks with greater autonomy.

The conversation also highlighted the importance of developing advanced AI capabilities alongside rigorous evaluation, responsible deployment practices, and appropriate safeguards to ensure that increasingly capable AI systems remain reliable and aligned with intended objectives.

As AI continues to evolve beyond conventional question-answering systems towards more autonomous and agentic applications, research into AI safety, reliability, and responsible development remains an important area of focus for the broader AI community.

Watch the full discussion on News9:
Watch on YouTube

The Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence is proud to announce that Ritik Kumar Das, a Ph.D. researcher at ScAI, has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the IEEE International Conference on NextGen Data Science and Analytics (ICNDSA-2026).

The conference, organized by Christ University (Delhi NCR), took place from April 10–11, 2026, bringing together global experts to discuss the future of data-driven technologies.

Research Highlight

The award-winning paper, "Satellite-based Detection of Plastic Waste in Indian Urban Environments using Sentinel-2 and Spectral Index Fusion," addresses critical environmental challenges using advanced Computer Vision and Earth Observation techniques.

• Objective: Leveraging Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to monitor and detect plastic waste accumulation in dense Indian urban areas.
• Methodology: The research utilizes Spectral Index Fusion, a method that enhances the accuracy of waste identification by combining different light wavelengths to distinguish plastic from other urban materials.
• Impact: This work provides a scalable, AI-driven solution for municipal waste management and environmental conservation efforts.

Mentorship & Collaboration

Ritik conducts his research under the supervision of Dr. Sudipan Saha. This achievement underscores ScAI’s commitment to applying AI for social good and environmental sustainability.

"I am humbled to receive this recognition and incredibly grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Sudipan Saha, for his constant guidance and support throughout this work."

— Ritik Kumar Das

Keywords: AI for Earth Observation, Computer Vision, Urban Sustainability, IEEE ICNDSA, IIT Delhi ScAI

IIT Delhi's Anveshan 2026 a campus outreach event for final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students considering higher studies and research opportunities at the institute. It offers participants the chance to engage with faculty, explore departmental labs, attend academic presentations, and learn about postgraduate, doctoral, and interdisciplinary programs.

The Yardi School of AI and Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, is proud to announce the launch of the Beta version of Adi Vaani – the world’s first AI-powered platform for Janjatiya (tribal) languages, inaugurated at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi.

The event was graced by Hon’ble MoS Tribal Affairs, Shri Durgadas Uikey, along with senior officials of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Prof. Rangan Banerjee (Director, IIT Delhi), Prof. Vivek Kumar (Coordinator, BBMC), Prof. Parag Singla (Head, Yardi SCAI), and representatives from State TRIs and TRKC, New Delhi.

Developed under the leadership of Prof. Sandeep Kumar (IIT Delhi), with BITS Pilani, IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT-Naya Raipur, and State TRIs, Adi Vaani marks a transformative step in bridging the digital divide. In its first phase, the platform supports Santhali, Bhili, Mundari, and Gondi, providing:

✅ Real-time AI translation (text, speech, OCR) with Hindi & English

✅ Bilingual dictionaries and interactive learning tools

✅ Digitization of folklore and oral traditions

✅ Multilingual access to government schemes and advisories

Expansion to Kui and Garo is planned in the next phase.

This youth-led initiative, driven by IIT Delhi students and collaborators, exemplifies India’s vision for Viksit Bharat 2047, positioning the nation as a global leader in inclusive, multilingual AI innovation.

 Website: adivaani.tribal.gov.in
 Press:tinyurl.com/yykhjdcr
 DD News:tinyurl.com/2tfw5s2j
 App Download: tinyurl.com/4rjx5m3p
 Launch Video: tinyurl.com/ya2fpxwt

Congratulations to Prof. Kavya Dashora, an Associate Faculty at the Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI), on receiving the Emerging Woman Leadership Award at IIT Delhi.