Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will establish centres for transformational artificial intelligence in partnership with academia and industry to develop AI-based solutions, said a senior officer from MeitY.
While announcing the establishment of a fund of funds to provide financial support to startups at all stages of growth, Abhishek Singh, head of Digital India Corporation and the National e-Governance Division said that India has a large number of AI-skilled soldiers.
Speaking at an industry event in Delhi, he said: “While significant AI research is being conducted at all of our academic institutions, we continue to fall far behind China and the United States in terms of AI research. Certain measures have been taken, but we must continue.”
Singh also said that the Department of Science and Technology, as part of the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems, has established Technology Innovation Hubs (NM-ICPS).
“However, as part of the national AI initiative, India centres for transformational AI are being considered. These centres will be established in collaboration with business and academia. They will be sectoral in nature. The solution or application produced as a result of the exercise would be evaluated for scalability across the country, ” Singh explained.
Telangana Principal Secretary for Industries and Commerce and Information Technology Jayesh Ranjan stated that the state government has pledged that any AI solution that is relevant to the government will be adopted without bidding and irrespective of the experience.
He stated that over 30 solutions have been adopted and tested for projects such as e-voting under the state government’s scheme.
“The final pillar of our initiative is around governance. Many people can misuse AI. Therefore it is very important to understand what checks and balances are when you use AI. There are multiple issues related to governance. As a government it is our prime responsibility to set those standards,” Ranjan said.
