Like Chandrayaan-2, India should be able to develop LLMs at fraction of the cost: Ashwini Vaishnaw

While highlighting the low cost India incurred to land Chandrayaan-2 on the Moon's surface, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated on February 5 that India should also be able to develop a large language model (LLM) at a fraction of the cost compared to other countries.

Vaishnaw who was in conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, "Our country sent a mission to the moon at a fraction of the cost that many other countries did, right? Why can't we do a model which will be a fraction of the cost that many other countries do? So, yes, innovation will bring that cost to the world. We think that that kind of thing will come out in this process."

Vaishnaw's comments come a few weeks after he announced that India, as part of the Rs 10,738 crore India AI Mission, will be developing multiple foundational models and that it will be launched in the coming months. The government has identified 5-6 startups capable of developing the models.

"Every year there is 10x reduction in the cost of intelligence. That kind of innovation can come from anywhere in the world. Why shouldn't it come from India? That's the point. And our young entrepreneurs, our startups, our researchers, they are really, really focused on getting that next level of innovation, which will reduce the cost," Vaishnaw added.