New Delhi: The Union Cabinet has given the green light to the India Artificial Intelligence mission on Thursday, a pivotal step towards realizing the vision of ‘Making AI in India’ and ‘Making AI Work for India.’ With a significant budget allocation of Rs 10,371.92 crore, the mission aims to foster a robust AI ecosystem, driving innovation through strategic collaborations across both public and private sectors.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, briefing the media post the cabinet meeting, highlighted the mission’s focus on establishing comprehensive programs and partnerships to propel AI innovation in the country.
India AI mission can be a moonshot for India and the world’s responsible AI journey, we are looking forward to contributing to this @narendramodi @PMOIndia @AshwiniVaishnaw @Rajeev_GoI #ai #India https://t.co/TJInTQb56l pic.twitter.com/7pBrAXGvcI
— Saurabh Shukla सौरभ शुक्ल (@isaurabhshukla) March 7, 2024
Key Features:
- The mission will be implemented by ‘IndiaAI’ Independent Business Division (IBD) under Digital India Corporation (DIC) and has various components like IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI Innovation Centre, IndiaAI Datasets Platform, IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing and Safe & Trusted AI.
- The ecosystem will comprise AI compute infrastructure of 10,000 or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), built through public-private partnership. Further, an AI marketplace will be designed to offer AI as a service and pre-trained models to AI innovators. It will act as a one-stop solution for resources critical for AI innovation
- IndiaAI Innovation Centre will undertake the development and deployment of indigenous Large Multimodal Models (LMMs) and domain-specific foundational models in critical sectors. IndiaAI Compute Capacity, the compute pillar, will build a high-end scalable AI computing ecosystem to cater to the increasing demands from India’s rapidly expanding AI start-ups and research ecosystem.
- The IndiaAI Datasets Platform will streamline access to quality non-personal datasets for AI Innovation. A unified data platform will be developed to provide a one-stop solution for seamless access to non-personal datasets to Indian Startups and researchers.
- The IndiaAI Application Development Initiative will promote AI applications in critical sectors for the problem statements sourced from central ministries, state departments, and other institutions. The initiative will focus on developing/scaling/promoting adoption of impactful AI solutions with the potential for catalyzing large-scale socio-economic transformation.
- IndiaAI FutureSkills is conceptualized to mitigate barriers to entry into AI programmes and will increase AI courses in undergraduate, master-level, and PhD programmes. Further, Data and AI Labs will be set-up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India to impart foundational-level courses.
- The IndiaAI Startup Financing pillar is conceptualized to support and accelerate deep-tech AI startups and provide them streamlined access to funding to enable futuristic AI Projects.
- The release said that the approved IndiaAI Mission will propel innovation and build domestic capacities to ensure the tech sovereignty of India.
- It will also create highly skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country. IndiaAI Mission will help India demonstrate to the world how this transformative technology can be used for social good and enhance its global competitiveness.
