India is building AI foundation model: Here's when it'll launch
What's the story
India will develop its own generative artificial intelligence (AI) model in less than a year, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has announced at the Utkarsh Odisha Conclave.
The ambitious project will take on global giants like OpenAI's ChatGPT and China's DeepSeek.
The India AI Compute Facility will develop this Large Language Model (LLM) with an impressive 18,693 GPUs it has secured for the task.
Project timeline
AI model development timeline and necessary resources
Vaishnaw is confident about the project's timeline, saying that "there are at least six major developers who can develop AI models in the six to eight months on the outer limit, and four to six months on a more optimistic estimate."
He stressed the need for a common compute facility to build a robust AI ecosystem.
The minister noted that high-end computational infrastructure is critical for researchers, start-ups, and academic institutions working toward advancing AI development.
Infrastructure growth
AI compute facility surpasses initial expectations
The India AI Compute Facility has exceeded its original target of obtaining 10,000 GPUs, having obtained nearly 19,000 instead.
This comprises 12,896 NVIDIA H100 GPUs and 1,480 NVIDIA H200 GPUs.
Vaishnaw confirmed that around 10,000 of these GPUs are available for immediate use while the remaining will be rolled out gradually.
He also announced that this facility would be open to all and functional in the coming days.
AI diversity
India's foundational AI model to address linguistic diversity
India is also planning to launch a foundational AI model that will address the country's linguistic and cultural diversity while minimizing biases in datasets.
Vaishnaw announced that proposals for AI model development are now being accepted, with an expected development timeline of four to eight months.
He also mentioned ongoing research into algorithmic efficiency, which could greatly reduce the cost of model development.
Societal impact
AI applications to address societal challenges
The IndiaAI Mission also seeks to leverage AI applications to address large-scale societal challenges.
Vaishnaw said 18 AI-driven applications have been selected for the first round of funding. These projects mainly revolve around agriculture, climate change, and learning disabilities.
To promote responsible AI development, India will set up an AI safety institution that will follow a hub-and-spoke model, enabling multiple institutions to come together and offer safety tools and frameworks.