India Looks To Rope In Meta As Its Trusted AI Partner

At a time when India has assumed the chairmanship of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), top government officials are reportedly said to have floated ideas that involve onboarding social media giant Meta as the government’s trusted artificial intelligence (AI) partner. 

Sources told Moneycontrol that India offered to leverage its position as the Chair to push for innovation-friendly regulations at the body, provided the social media giant becomes its trusted AI partner.

The deliberations came to pass during close-door meetings between some of the top Indian officials and Meta policy chief Nick Clegg during the latter’s visit to India last month.

“The company was also told that it would do well to attract the government’s attention by undertaking an AI initiative by itself in the country, or even as part of a consortium… Also, AI would be one of the focus areas for the government in its G20 presidency,” said people familiar with the development.

Besides, authorities also sought Meta’s interest in setting up a local initiative for Indian techies working on AI.

Retorting to this, Clegg is said to have told officials that Meta has so far not thought about AI investments in India, owing to confusions surrounding data localisation norms. He, however, added that the draft Digital Data Protection Bill, 2022, appears to have addressed the issues, significantly easing data storage rules. 

Additionally, Meta executives also purportedly pitched their AI initiatives, including the No Language Left Behind (NLLB), which are already operational in the country. Sources said that the Indian officials termed the aforementioned project as ‘academic and not very India-specific’.

NLLB is an AI-based project that is capable of translating around 200 languages, including low-resource languages such as Urdu. 

In a statement sent to a media house, a Meta spokesperson said, “We deeply appreciate the opportunity to discuss how Meta can work together with the government to achieve India’s techade goals. Since these were closed-door meetings, we would not be able to share more information.”

India’s AI Push

The announcement comes close on the heels of India assuming chairmanship of the GPAI last month. At the same event, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar called on the member states to devise a common framework regarding AI. 

The MoS has multiple times in the past termed AI as the kinetic enabler for India’s digital economy and sought developing a common framework on AI-specific skill generation and talent cultivation.

Earlier this year, the centre launched new AI-backed digital schemes aimed at spurring digitisation. These initiatives included AI-led language translation platform Digital India BHASHINI, deeptech startup platform Digital India Genesis and open API project India Stack. 

A wave of new-age AI startups has also emerged in recent times, including players such as Data Sutram, RealBox, REZO.ai, and CropIn.

These cater to a wide range of audiences from enabling easy digitising of documents to building tailored learning experiences for kids. AI has also seen deployment in new arenas to maximise efficiency and automate processes. 

According to a report, the Indian AI software market, which stood at $2.76 Bn in 2020, is estimated to touch $7.8 Bn by 2025.