Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents to the world, opportunities to complement and supplement human intelligence and improve the ways people live and work. With its wide range of applications, AI and machine learning are present in almost all technological aspects of our lives.
India has recognized the potential of AI and has been actively working towards its development and application across various sectors. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming various sectors in India, including healthcare, finance, and education among others. The country has a strong focus on research and development in AI, and the government has launched several initiatives to foster the development and adoption of AI. In 2018, the Indian government launched the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which focused on fostering AI development in specific sectors. This strategy laid the foundation for further advancements in utilizing the applications of AI. In 2021, a draft for Responsible AI was introduced, featuring voluntary guidelines that prioritize ethical AI practices. These guidelines underscored the importance of transparency, accountability, and fairness. The Government of India has always intended to use AI in an inclusive and equitable manner. Therefore, the National Strategy is written as AI for All.
Recently approved National AI mission; the ‘INDIAai’ Mission aims to build a comprehensive ecosystem that fosters AI innovation by democratizing computing access, enhancing data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, attracting top AI talent, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects, and promoting ethical AI.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has responsibility to implement the mission and to drive responsible and inclusive growth of India's AI ecosystem through its seven pillars namely:
IndiaAI Compute Capacity
Aims to focus on building a scalable AI ecosystem with 10,000+ GPUs via public-private partnerships, offering AI services and resources.
IndiaAI Innovation Centre
Aims to focus on developing and deploying indigenous Large Multimodal Models and domain-specific foundational models
IndiaAI Datasets Platform
Aims to focus on streamlining the access to high-quality non-personal datasets for AI innovation
IndiaAI Application Development Initiative
Develops, scales, and promotes impactful AI solutions for large-scale socio-economic transformation
IndiaAI FutureSkills
This pillar aims to expand AI education at all academic levels and establish Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and 3 cities
IndiaAI Startup Financing
This pillar accelerates deep-tech AI startups by streamlining access to funding for innovative AI projects
Safe & Trusted AI
This pillar focuses on ensuring the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI by implementing Responsible AI projects, developing indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment checklists for innovators, and other guidelines and governance frameworks.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) mission of the PM-STIAC focuses on efforts that will benefit India in addressing societal needs in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities, and infrastructure, including smart mobility and transportation. This mission work with extensive academia-industry interactions on developing core research capability at the national level which will include international collaborations. It intends to push technology frontiers through the creation of new knowledge and in developing and deploying applications.
To deploy intelligent systems in a variety of decision-making tasks and enable better connectivity and enhance productivity
To use intelligent systems with a focus on addressing India’s societal needs across areas like healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities, infrastructure, and mobility
To create new knowledge and develop new applications of intelligent systems