Private sector to match govt's Rs 10,000-crore investment in AI mission: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The private sector is expected to match the government’s over Rs 10,000-crore investment to kick start a national artificial intelligence programme, which includes acquiring AI chip capacity for the country’s startups and researchers, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said.

“The India AI mission that has been approved by the government includes Rs 10,000 crore of direct government funding. There will be, in our opinion, private sector capital that will come of an equal amount. So, we are talking about Rs 20,000 crore of investment,” Chandrasekhar told Moneycontrol in an exclusive interview.

WATCH | EXCLUSIVE: MoS Electronics And IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar Speaks Exclusively To Moneycontrol

In March, the Centre approved the AI mission with an outlay of Rs 10,372 crore for five years to encourage AI development in the country.

Apart from AI chip capacity, the programme seeks to support use-cases in areas like agriculture and healthcare, promote skill development and create a framework for utilising the country’s data to make AI software.

“Our focus is really not so much about creating LLMs (large language models) and foundation models, as much as creating use-cases that will take the power of AI to users and citizens directly. So governance, agriculture, health, medicine, medicine, discovery, these are the areas that we are going to focus on with centres of excellence,” Chandrasekhar said.

“Should we not have LLMs in our Indian languages? I certainly will not be a person who will say no to that. But in terms of the government resources being directed in a particular direction, they will be directed in creating these building blocks that will help and create an impact on the citizens of the country with the power of AI.”

LLMs are systems that learn from vast quantities of data and generate natural-sounding responses.

Fighting deepfakes

Chandrasekhar also talked about the emergence of AI-based deepfakes posing a challenge to free and fair elections, amid a hotly contested Lok Sabha election in India. Later in the year, the US, the UK and Germany are among the countries which will also go to the polls.

“Regulations will continue to evolve and continue to grow but it is not so much about that as much as enforcement. And, I think, we have to figure out a way of enforcing this, especially when there are absolutely patently false facts being put out there during a critical process like an election, especially when foreign interests are meddling in our elections,” he said.

The use of deepfakes and misinformation in the Lok Sabha campaign has vindicated the government’s decision to create an official fact check unit, Chandrasekhar, who is the BJP’s Thiruvananthapuram candidate, said.

“In a lot of ways, what is playing out is a vindication of what we said as a government prior to the election — that misinformation can and will be weaponised. And that we have to figure out a way to be able to label what is patently wrong or patently false,” he added.