IIT Alumni Council Seeks Tech to Curb Rogue Threats
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], April 17: The IIT Alumni Council’s World Wisdom Workshop #1 of FY 2025-26 has highlighted an urgent need to accelerate technological developments to counter climate change, lifestyle diseases and potential risks from rogue frontier technologies like cyber-attacks, gene editing and agentic AI. Angel fund supported startups and eminent scientists working in this [...]
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], April 17: The IIT Alumni Council’s World Wisdom Workshop #1 of FY 2025-26 has highlighted an urgent need to accelerate technological developments to counter climate change, lifestyle diseases and potential risks from rogue frontier technologies like cyber-attacks, gene editing and agentic AI. Angel fund supported startups and eminent scientists working in this space looking for knowledge support and venture capital funding assistance may contact applications@iitalumnicouncil.org along with details of their past experience, research papers and patents. The call for proposals is open to members of IIT Alumni Council, alumni next members (family members of IIT Alumni Council members) and Distinguished Fellows or Corporate member supported entities. Last date for receipt of proposals is April 30, 2025.
Natural disasters intensified by climate change and the looming risk of AI-enabled gene editing creating new species, could end human dominance on Earth sooner than expected. There is an urgent need to mitigate these risks while exploring viable alternatives—underwater, off-planet, and beyond dense urban clusters. Policymakers, particularly in developed nations, may underestimate the consequences of unchecked advances in agentic AI and biotechnology. To counter emerging rogue technologies—potentially more destructive than nuclear arms—we must deploy Assistive AI, cobotics, and ancient wisdom to enhance human resilience, both mentally and physically. A single lab-generated virus, as seen with COVID, could erase humanity in days.
Solace2Self, a four-day workshop curated and conducted by Parag Shah—Distinguished Fellow of the IIT Alumni Council in analytical algorithms—brought together technologists, physicians, thinkers, and facilitators, alongside young IITians, Alumni Next, and IT professionals. Based on Shah’s 25-year methodology for enhancing inner clarity and cognitive renewal, the workshop reflects his long-standing commitment to introspective learning. A winner of the Global COVID Test Optimisation Challenge (2020), Shah is also remembered for his ability to play chess blindfolded during his IIT days.