Sachin Chavan

Researcher | Greenhouse Horticulture |Protected Cropping | Food Security | Climate Change

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

Here is our recent work on Explainable AI for greenhouse optimization now published! It delivers transparent insights that help balance strong crop yields with better energy efficiency. 🌱💡@FutureFoodCRC @westsyduhie @Hort_Au #AIinHorticulture

[AgriEngineering MDPI @AgriEng_Mdpi]

How can AI optimize greenhouse farming without being a "black box"? 🚜💡

This new paper uses Explainable AI (#XAI) to balance crop growth and energy efficiency with total transparency.

📄 Read it here: https://t.co/zcEQRl4u9c
#AgTech #SmartFarming #AIResearch

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@nothingindia @grok Nothing phone 4

[GDP @bookwormengr]

Writing this as an Indian who works on AI in leadership role for one the largest companies in the world (though strictly my personal opinion, but based on verifiable data).

You heard it first here:
—————————-
First some more shocks:
You heard DeepSeek.
Wait till you hear about Qwen (Alibaba), MiniMax, Kimi, DuoBao (ByteDance) all from China.
Within China, DeepSeek is not unique and their competition is close behind (not far behind).
IMHO, China has 10 labs comparable to OpenAI/Anthropic and another 50 tier 2 labs.
The world will discover them in coming weeks in awe and shock.

AI is not hard (I am not high)
————————————
Ignore Sam Altman.
Many teams that built foundation models are below 50 persons (e.g. Mixtral).
In AI, LLM science part is actually quite easy.
All these models are “Transformer Decoder only models”, an architecture that was invented in late 2017.
There are improvements since then (flash attention, ROPE, MOE, PPO/DPO/GRPO), but they are relatively minor, open source and easy to implement.

Since building foundation models is easy and Nvidia is there to help you (if not directly, then by sharing their software like “Megatron” that is assembly line to build AI models) there are so many foundation models built by Chinese labs as well as global labs.

It is machines that learn by themselves…if you give them data & compute. This is unlike writing operating system or database software. Also, everyone trains on same data: internet archives, books, github code for the first stage called “pre-training”.

What is part is hard then?
———————————-
It is the parallel & distributed computing to run AI training jobs across thousands of GPUs that is hard. DeepSeek did lot of innovation here to save on “flops” and network calls. They used an innovative architecture called Mixture of Experts and a new approach called GRPO. with verifiable rewards both of which are in open domain through 2024.

Also, there is lot of data curation needed particularly for “post training”
to teach model on proper style of answering (SFT/DPO) or to teach them learn to reason (GRPO with verifiable reward). STF/DPO is where “stealing” from existing models to save cost of manual labor may happen.

LLM building is nothing that Indian engineers living in India cannot pull off. Don’t worry about Indians who have left. There are plenty in the country as of today.

Then why India does not have foundation models?
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It is for the same reason India does not have Google or Facebook of its own.

You need to able to walk before you can run.

There is no protected market to practice your craft in early days. You will get replaced by American service providers as they are cheaper and better every single time. That is not the case with Chinese player. They have a protected market and leadership who treats this skillset as existential due to geopolitics.

So, even if Chinese models are not good in early days they will continue to get funding from their conglomerates as well as provincial governments. Darwinian competition ensures best rise to the top.

Recall DeepSeek took 2 years to get here without much revenue. They were funded by their parent. Also, most of their engineers are not PHDs.

There is nothing that engineers who built Ola/Swiggy/Flipkart cannot build. Remember these services are second to none when you compare them to their Bay Area counterparts. Also , don’t trivialize those services; there is brilliant engineering to make them work at the price points at which they work.

Indian DARPA with 3B USD in funding over 3 years
———————-
What we need is a mentality that treats this skillset as existential. We need a national fund that will fund such teams and the only expected output will be benchmark performance with benchmarks becoming harder every 6 months . No revenue needed to survive for first 3 years.

That money will be loose change for GOI and world’s richest men living in India.

@protosphinx @balajis @vikramchandra @naval

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@westsyduhie @OulaGhannoum Congratulations! Oula

[Oula Ghannoum @OulaGhannoum]

Excited to announce that advertisement for the Centre manager is now live. Please share among your network.

eRecruit for UWS - Ref 4907/24 Centre Manager, ARC Training Centre for Smart & Sustainable Horticulture, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment https://t.co/hBbicSZwtv

[Future Food Systems CRC @FutureFoodCRC]

Discussing the latest developments within #FFSCRC research program 2 projects & discovering the ground-breaking advances in #protectedcropping technologies. Another successful Program 2 PRG meeting yesterday at @westsyduhie. Thanks to all attendees, presenters & hosts.

[Prof Brajesh Singh @Prof_Braj_Singh]

Two fully funded PHD projects are available on sustainable approaches to improve cotton productivity.
It can be any area of science linked to cotton farming.
Soil science, pathology, nutrient management, plant physiology, plant-microbial interactions---

Funded jointly by @CottonResearch and @westernsydneyu. More details below

https://t.co/pLU3vJTNNO

[A/Prof. Christopher Cazzonelli @EELaboratory]

Two PhD Scholarships in Plant Molecular Biology and Horticultural Tree Genomics @westsyduhie, @EELaboratory to generate new knowledge of mechanisms controlling traits - flowering in almond and fruit colour in mango at a crop level

https://t.co/wY5J4zTXzY

[Future Food Systems CRC @FutureFoodCRC]

The countdown is on to the #FFSCRC #ResearchShowcase! Interact with leading researchers & industry innovators, & discover the innovative tools, technologies & partnerships driving Australia's agrifood sector towards a more resilient & sustainable future.
https://t.co/z9JXZJz3H0

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@OulaGhannoum @westernsydneyu Congratulations! Oula. I have been fortunate to witness last 10 of those.

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@OulaGhannoum @westsyduhie @arc_gov_au @FutureFoodCRC @leaf2field Congratulations! Oula

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@FutureFoodCRC @westernsydneyu @westsyduhie

[Future Food Systems CRC @FutureFoodCRC]

In this short clip from For Food’s Sake, Dr Sachin Chavan from @westernsydneyu delves into the purpose of utilising smart films in glasshouses and the benefits of the technology within protected cropping. Learn more: https://t.co/gX1K7fGn9J

#protectedcropping #smartfilms

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@AvinashVKarpe Yes, I have been involved in facilitating this collaboration and look forward to work together with colleagues in VNMKV.

[VNMKV @VNMKV]

Vasantrao Naik Marathwada Krishi Vidyapeeth (VNMKV), Parbhani, & Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia, have entered into a MoU at New Delhi on March 6, 2024 to establish an international partnership for agriculture research & education activities.

[A/Prof. Christopher Cazzonelli @EELaboratory]

@craemaier from @westsyduhie shows how our "Light blocking film in a glasshouse impacts Capsicum annuum L. yield differentially across planting season"
https://t.co/et07zlJrIo

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

It was great to see Ass Prof Han Lin and new post doc Jihong Han from RMIT in our glasshouse facility to discuss the installation of the new generation of new light blocking film. Looking forward to the crop trials under new generation of glasshouse films.

[Future Food Systems CRC @FutureFoodCRC]

Exciting news! Countdown to For Food's Sake Summit on Feb 22 at Murdoch University. Meet our stellar speaker additions below. Tickets are selling fast. Don't miss the chance to be part of this transformative event. Secure your spot now: https://t.co/rQhwlxk54a #FFS24 @MurdochUni

[Sachin Chavan @Sachin_G_Chavan]

@EELaboratory Congratulations! Mate .. well deserved.

[A/Prof. Christopher Cazzonelli @EELaboratory]

Novel transcriptome networks are associated with adaptation of capsicum fruit development to a light-blocking glasshouse film @westsyduhie
https://t.co/MM0lCFq5nK