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Seven working groups from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) presented the first edition of the IndiaAI report, officially submitting it to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State of MeitY. Chandrasekhar noted that this report would serve as India’s guiding roadmap to advance its AI ecosystem.
“After months of dedicated research, the seven working groups that were constituted to build the core goals of the IndiaAI program, have submitted their formal report today,” the Minister said. It lays out what will be the fulcrum of the IndiaAI strategy and a key player in the government’s mission to become a one trillion-dollar digital economy.
IndiaAI adopts a mission-oriented strategy to systematically address gaps in the current AI ecosystem, focusing on computing infrastructure, data, AI financing, research, innovation, targeted skilling, and institutional capacity for data.
It is made up of several components, including the India Datasets Programme, which will serve as one of the most extensive repositories of anonymised datasets that will be used by Indian researchers to train their multi-parameter models. Another component is the India AI Compute Platform, a collaborative initiative between the public and private sectors to create significant GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) capacity to support startups and researchers. In addition to skilling, IndiaAI will also support the development of AI chips in partnership with the Semicon India programme.
According to a press release, the working groups provided a comprehensive breakdown of the operational aspects for setting up Centres of Excellence (CoEs) and the institutional framework governing data collection, management, processing, and storage by the National Data Management Office (NDMO).
They also suggest ways that India can leverage its demographic dividend and play to its strengths as an IT superpower to enhance AI skills across the country, bolster the AI computing infrastructure in the nation, and foster AI innovation via public-private partnerships (PPPs). The report offers recommendations on the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, which provides financial incentives and design infrastructure support to domestic companies and startups.
Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar also announced the Global India AI Summit, which will be held in December 2023. It aligns with the Prime Minister’s vision of “India for AI and AI for India.” It will bring together leaders and participants from the AI domain and the overall tech ecosystem.
He said that India’s approach to AI is not just about chasing trends but is rooted in a strong belief and commitment that AI will actively drive the attainment of the one trillion-dollar economy goal. It will also cultivate substantial capabilities within the startup and research ecosystem, focusing on real-world AI use cases for development. “I think this is a good launching pad for us to develop an overall comprehensive framework for policy, financing and resources,” he noted.
Recently, the government unveiled the draft National Strategy on Robotics. Advances in AI are expected to impact the realm of cyber-physical systems (CPS) such as robotics significantly, which heavily depend on AI to facilitate the interaction between the virtual world and the components of physical systems. To fully harness the advantages of an AI-integrated society, the development of the National Strategy on Robotics has been envisioned as a pivotal component of IndiaAI.