Govt to Establish Data & AI Labs, Launches 8 Projects for Safe AI: Prasada.

The government has announced plans to establish data and AI labs in tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country, inviting proposals from all 36 states and Union Territories. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Jitin Prasada, informed Parliament on Friday that these labs are part of a larger initiative aimed at enhancing AI skills and infrastructure.

In a written response to the Rajya Sabha, Prasada said that IndiaAI, in collaboration with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), aims to set up 27 data labs in these cities. States and Union Territories have been requested to submit nominations for Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics in tier 2 and tier 3 cities for the labs’ establishment.The data and AI labs are part of the government’s skilling initiative under the IndiaAI mission. Prasada highlighted that a model IndiaAI Data Lab has already been established at NIELIT in Delhi, which will serve as a reference for setting up similar labs in other cities.

Additionally, the IndiaAI fellowship program is awarding annual fellowships to 400 B-Tech and 500 M-Tech students working in AI across AICTE-recognized engineering institutions. Top 50 research institutes under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) have also been invited to take in new PhD scholars under the IndiaAI PhD fellowship.

On the development of safe and trusted AI, Prasada revealed that the government has selected eight projects focused on responsible AI. These projects are aimed at ensuring robust guardrails for the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI technologies. Among the selected projects are Machine Unlearning from IIT Jodhpur, Synthetic Data Generation from IIT Roorkee, AI Bias Mitigation Strategy from NIT Raipur, and an AI Ethical Certification Framework from IIIT Delhi and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC).

These initiatives are part of the government’s ongoing efforts to foster AI innovation while ensuring ethical and safe practices in AI development.

BS