India Starts An AI Mission To Support Regional Economies

In an effort to develop India’s artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem and catch up to other AI-leading nations, the Indian government approved the INR103.7192 billion AI Mission.

The Press Information Bureau reports that the AI Mission, which will cost InR103.7192 billion over five years, was authorized by the Union Cabinet of India. The “IndiaAI” Independent Business Division under Digital India Corporation will carry out the AI Mission.

The Mission states in the document that it seeks to establish an all-encompassing ecosystem that fosters strategic initiatives and partnerships between the public and private sectors in order to accelerate AI innovation. These initiatives include democratizing computing access, improving data quality, encouraging the development of indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, facilitating industry partnerships, providing startup funding, encouraging socially impactful AI endeavors, and strengthening ethical AI practices. The goal of AI Mission is to promote inclusive, responsible growth in India’s AI industry.

The India AI Compute Capacity, India AI Innovation Center, India AI Datasets Platform, India AI Application Development Initiative, India AI Future Skills, India AI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI are the seven components that make up the AI Mission. According to the AI Mission, India Compute Capacity will include pre-trained models and an AI marketplace with over 10,000 GPUs in its AI compute infrastructure. AI as a service will also be provided.

The Indian Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal, was quoted by Mint as stating that a comprehensive framework with multiple dimensions has been established. The seven essential elements will facilitate and expedite deep-tech artificial intelligence (AI) firms, giving them expedited access to capital to allow ambitious AI initiatives. Additionally, according to Mint, India plans to establish two or three innovation centers to produce Large Language Models (LLMs) tailored to specific domains.

Yogendra Goyal, the chief technology officer of Kuhoo Fintech, was quoted by Republic World as saying that the AI era is comparable to the invention of the computer and that the government’s decision will assist SMEs and startups in working and producing the appropriate set of inventions.

About 3,000 deep-tech startups are presently active in India, but less than 20% of them have been able to obtain adequate funding, according to Republic World.