What happened?
Days after a Chinese AI lab took the world by surprise through the launch of a low-cost foundational AI model, DeepSeek, the GoI has decided to build a domestic large-language model (LLM) of its own within a few months as part of the Rs. 10,370 crore IndiaAI mission. The announcement was made by Indian IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who also called for proposals to “develop our own foundational model” for “the Indian context, languages, culture, and devoid of biases.”
Why it matters to India:
As the global AI race heated up last week, with the US in the lead and China now closer behind, India’s announcement underscores a strategic imperative to make rapid gains in order to secure the country’s techno-economic future. Even as China demonstrated its AI prowess last week, it also revealed that the cost of competition in next-generation technology may be far lower than many previously thought. In turn, this arguably lowers the entry barrier for India to compete in AI technologies with other major powers.
Towards this end, the GoI has selected ten companies that will supply approximately 18,000 Graphic Processing units (GPUs) to develop an Indian foundational AI model and also announced its intention to launch a common compute facility in the “next few days”, which will enable start-ups and researchers to access advanced services at low-costs (relative to the global average). The same is a boost to the country’s ability to make AI-based innovations and deploy models.