Gujarat: 37 institutes identified for Data & AI Labs under ‘IndiaAI Mission’

Ahmedabad, Aug 3 (IANS) Thirty-seven technical education institutes in Gujarat have been identified for the establishment of Data & AI Labs under the Centre's 'IndiaAI Mission', with 20 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 17 Polytechnics selected to strengthen artificial intelligence education and workforce development in the state.

The information was provided by Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, Jitin Prasada, in a written reply to questions on artificial intelligence raised by Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani.

According to the Minister, the Data & AI Labs will be set up under the 'IndiaAI FutureSkills' pillar and will provide training in artificial intelligence, data annotation, data curation and applied data science.

The initiative is intended to equip students with industry-relevant AI skills and help build a skilled AI workforce.

The Minister also informed the House that Gujarat has been allocated two Artificial Intelligence Centres of Excellence (AI-CoEs) under the 'IndiaAI Startup Financing' pillar.

The centres are expected to strengthen the state's AI innovation ecosystem and provide focused support to startups, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and academic institutions.

Under the 'IndiaAI Fellowship' programme, also part of the FutureSkills pillar, Gujarat has been awarded 23 fellowships to support AI research.

These include four undergraduate, 12 postgraduate and seven PhD research fellowships for students pursuing artificial intelligence research in academic institutions across the state.

The written reply further stated that the 'IndiaAI Compute' pillar provides subsidised access to high-performance Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) computing at an average rate of around Rs 65 per GPU-hour through 15 empanelled Compute Service Providers.

In Gujarat, subsidised access to high-end GPU computing has been allocated to Gujarat Informatics Limited (GIL) and the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (Amul).

The Minister's reply noted that India's AI strategy builds on the country's information technology sector, which generates annual revenue of about USD 300 billion and employs around 60 lakh people.

The IndiaAI Mission, approved by the Central government on March 7, 2024, has a total outlay of Rs 10,371.92 crore over five years and is being implemented through seven pillars, including IndiaAI Compute, IndiaAI Foundation Models, AIKosh, the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative (IADI), IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.

The reply also stated that the IndiaAI Mission has launched 11 national-level hackathons and innovation challenges under the IADI pillar to encourage AI-driven innovation across the country.

--IANS

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