India announces USD 1.2 bln investment in AI projects
India has approved an ambitious and comprehensive national-level AI mission with a budget outlay of Rs.10,371.92 crore to cater to increasing demands from the country's rapidly expanding AI start-ups and research ecosystem including Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), built through public-private partnership.
The India AIMission, approved at a meeting of the cabinet presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening, also provides for an AI marketplace 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, an official statement said.
The Mission will establish a comprehensive ecosystem catalysing AI innovation through strategic programmes and partnerships across the public and private sectors.
It seeks to democratise computing access, improving data quality, develop indigenous AI capabilities, attract top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, provide start-up risk capital, ensure socially- impactful AI projects and bolster ethical AI.
The Mission will also have IndiaAI Innovation Centre which will undertake the development and deployment of indigenous large multimodal models and domain-specific foundational models in critical sectors.
Under it, an 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 start-ups and researchers.
Another key component of the AI mission is AI Application Development Initiative which will promote AI applications in critical sectors for the problem statements sourced from ministries and other institutions.
The initiative will focus on developing/scaling/promoting adoption of impactful AI solutions with potential for catalysing large scale socio-economic transformation.
It also envisages IndiaAI FutureSkills to mitigate barriers to entry into AI programmes and will increase AI courses in undergraduate, masters-level, and Ph.D. programs. Further, data and AI Labs will be set-up in smaller cities across India to impart foundational level courses.
The mission also provides for IndiaAI start-up financing pillar to support and accelerate deep-tech AI start-ups and provide them streamlined access to funding to enable futuristic AI projects.
Recognizing the need for adequate guardrails to advance the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI, the Safe & Trusted AI pillar will enable the implementation of responsible AI projects including the development of indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment checklists for innovators and other guidelines and governance frameworks.
The IndiaAI Mission is aimed at creating highly-skilled employment opportunities to harness the demographic dividend of the country.