India Ready To Establish Itself As Global Leader In AI: Ashwini Vaishnaw

India is ready to establish itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence, similar to its dominance in IT services, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. 

Speaking to PTI, Vaishnaw also emphasised the need for balanced regulations that safeguard against AI risks while fostering innovation.

He said, “We will definitely need to take necessary safeguards but the opportunities presented by AI are also huge and they must be tapped responsibly.”

The minister also cited the government’s ongoing efforts, including the establishment of 5G labs in 100 universities and equipping 250 institutions with advanced semiconductor tools, as models for preparing India’s workforce for the AI revolution.

“…We started 5G labs in 100 universities for telecom and the way we equipped 250 universities with latest semiconductor design tools, the same we are starting AI-ready courses in 200 universities to prepare our youth to ensure leadership position for India in the AI space,” he said.

This comes a day after he reportedly said that the first ‘Made in India’ chip will be rolled out this year.

While earlier in the Semicon India 2024 event in September, Vaishnaw had said that India is eyeing to launch 3-4 major products in the semiconductor space in coming years.

This development also comes at a time when numerous global and domestic companies have been working to build chips in India, with the resources and the innovative tech advancements.

For instance, in September last year, Tata Group-owned Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was known to be working with group peer Tata Electronics to roll out first made-in-India chips by 2026, where the first chip from Assam will roll out by late 2025 or early 2026.

However, the recent US restrictions on the GPU imports have also put a question on India’s AI dreams, capping the import of high end GPUs at 50,000 for the next two years.