Relevance: GS-3 (Science and Technology – Artificial Intelligence)

Source: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology

Context

The Government of India has approved a national-level mission to rapidly expand the country’s artificial intelligence compute capacity, aiming to make India a global hub for artificial intelligence development and deployment.

Key Features of the Mission

• Creation of a national artificial intelligence compute grid with large-scale graphic and tensor processing facilities.
• A public-private partnership model where the government supports infrastructure and industry operates high-performance compute centres.
• Focus on making compute resources easily accessible to start-ups, researchers, educational institutions and industry, especially through a unified digital platform.
• Support for developing indigenous artificial intelligence models and datasets, strengthening India’s digital sovereignty.

Why This Matters

Enhancing compute capacity is essential for building powerful artificial intelligence models, supporting innovation, and strengthening India’s digital economy.

UPSC Prelims Value Box

• Artificial intelligence compute capacity: Refers to the large-scale processing power required for training and running artificial intelligence models, often using specialised processors like graphics processing units and tensor processing units.
• Nodal Ministry: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology implements national programmes in artificial intelligence, including the mission to build a unified artificial intelligence compute grid under a public-private partnership model.

Prelims Practice Question

Q. With reference to India’s new artificial intelligence compute mission, consider the following statements:

1. It aims to create a national grid that will provide artificial intelligence compute access to start-ups and researchers.
2. It will be implemented entirely by private companies without government support.
3. It includes a focus on developing indigenous artificial intelligence models and datasets.

How many statements are correct?

A. One only
B. Two only
C. All three
D. None