Ideas in Development – VoxDev podcast

PxD CEO Niriksha Shetty recently joined the VoxDev Ideas in Development podcast alongside Utkarsh Saxena (Adalat AI) and Claire Cullen (Youth Impact) to discuss what deploying AI for development actually looks like on the ground – across India’s courts, classrooms, and farms.

Despite very different settings, the three guests kept arriving at the same conclusion: the technology is usually not what makes or breaks an intervention. Trust-building, language, workflows, incentives, and the unglamorous work of fitting new tools into existing institutions – that’s where things get hard.

As Niriksha puts it: “Technology has only been one part of the problem. And it’s often not the hardest part.”

For PxD, AI has opened up real possibilities: sharper forecasts for decisions like monsoon onset, and personalised agricultural advice at a scale that would otherwise be unaffordable. But getting there meant building robust systems for testing, experimentation, and delivery – not just finding a good model. Early pilots also surfaced unexpected issues around accents and numbers, emphasising the value of co-designing with farmers and having humans in the loop, particularly in the early stages. 

Worth a listen for anyone thinking seriously about where AI fits in development work.

🎙️ Available on YouTube or Apple Podcasts.