India’s Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has unveiled a comprehensive roadmap for the country’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) program, marking a significant step in India’s AI and robotics strategies. The roadmap follows the culmination of a deep and multi-year AI strategy, with a focus on positioning India as a major player in the global AI and robotics landscape.
The roadmap encompasses the following key elements:
1. **$1 Billion Digital Economy:** India’s primary goal with its AI strategy is to catalyze a $1 billion digital economy, aiming to leverage the potential of AI to drive economic growth and innovation.
2. **Real-life Use Cases:** The strategy recognizes that AI has the potential to transform various sectors, including fintech, governance, education, and the four key sectors highlighted in the draft National Strategy on Robotics: agriculture, healthcare, national security, and manufacturing.
3. **Key Components:** The strategy includes essential components, such as the India Datasets Platform, academic collaborations to establish Centers of Excellence, skill development initiatives, support for AI startups, financial incentives similar to those in the semiconductor industry via the PLI scheme, a public-private partnership model for AI compute infrastructure, and a promising prospect involving AI chips. This includes a partnership between India AI and Semicon India to advance the next generation of AI chips and computing hardware.
4. **Robotics Strategy:** In addition to the AI strategy, the Ministry has released a National Strategy for Robotics, aligning it with the broader AI strategy. The robotics policy is open for public consultation, seeking inputs from stakeholders, including startups, researchers, enterprises, and manufacturing companies.
The India AI program emphasizes the importance of aggregating diverse datasets, making them available in an integrated manner through the India Datasets Platform. These datasets comprise government and private sector data, all anonymized and devoid of personal information.
Minister Chandrasekhar highlighted the intention to establish a center of excellence, fostering collaboration among startups, companies, academia, and government. These entities will utilize the dataset platform, develop their datasets, and receive support from the government.
The government’s aim is to ensure India becomes a significant participant in AI’s future, with Indian startups, academia, and companies actively shaping the future of AI.
This comprehensive AI roadmap reflects India’s commitment to becoming a prominent player in AI and robotics, promoting innovation and economic growth.
