Context:
India’s long-awaited vision of attaining a unique status in Artificial Intelligence(AI) is taking shape due to rapid developments and innovations across the governmental spectrum. Yet hurdles remain that, if not overcome, will jeopardize any long-term success: funding issues and dependencies on technology.
Key Highlights:
Government Support: AI Mission
- The AI Mission has ₹10,000 crore earmarked for AI development in India. The AI Mission is about developing sovereign capabilities in AI.
- The mission, with pooled computation power and subsidized GPUs for AI model training, gives India computation access at $1/hour approximately.
- The mission aims at AI startups and skills enhancement along with access to non-personal datasets required for AI model generation.
Competitive Advantage of India for AI Talent
- The Indian AI talent pool, therefore, is placed firmly at the forefront of AI talent with 2.8 times better skills than the world average.
- India ranks second in AI talent after the US with about 111,000 AI professionals.
- Indian companies have made their mark globally, Sarvam.ai has been listed among the top 100 promising startups by CB Insights.
Key AI Challenges
- Funding gaps
- Indian AI startup funding fell drastically from $998 million in 2021-2022 to $261 million in 2023-2024.
- Foreign dependencies in technology
- India depends on imported GPU chips like Nvidia’s A100 and H100. The task before India now is to remain competitive once the next-generation chips show up in the market.
- Homegrown GPU Development
- The Government is working closely with public and private players for the development of indigenous GPUs, yet, this will take some time.
Open Source and AI on Edge
- Open Source AI
- Building a global standing for the Indian AI ecosystem, monetization gives the real trial. Except that going by fame, the models by OpenAI associated with ChatGPT were hardly able to generate almost any revenue.
- AI Labs
- This provided a lesser cost, secure, and unobtrusive monetization route, perfect for fast-tracking growth as it allows transferring computing to the user’s side, thereby limiting dependency on cloud infrastructure.
India’s Stand Globally: Strengths and Outlook Beyond
- Global AI Ranking
- India ranks 4th in the world in the AI ecosystem after the US, China, and UK, according to Stanford Global Vibrancy Index. The increase in AI competition sees India getting increasingly relevant in it.
- In spite of challenges, the presence of government-backed initiatives, AI skills, and technologies like AI on the edge give India an exemplary slot such that it can stake claim to broader platforms on the world AI map.
