India launches AI skilling drive for 10 lakh youth, to be completed in a year: Ashwini Vaishnaw

New Delhi/Jaipur [India], January 6 (ANI): A mega skilling programme aimed at imparting knowledge of Artificial Intelligence to as many as 10 lakh individuals across the country has been kicked off on Tuesday, from Rajasthan, during the regional AI summit that was held in the run-up to the AI summit to be held next month in India.
"The aim is to equip young people with AI skills so they can learn to apply AI in their lives, especially in small businesses, to increase productivity and reap the benefits," Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said.
"With this objective, a skilling program has been launched to provide AI skills to 10 lakh young people."
The goal of skilling 10 lakh youth will be achieved within the next year, the minister said. "Like fast-paced 5G rollout, semiconductor talent development, AI skilling work will also be as fast."
The AI Impact Summit, which was previously held in the UK, South Korea, and France, is now set to be held in India.
As part of preparations, similar to India's G20 presidency, regional AI summits are being held across the country.
Minister Vaishnaw said India is seeing approximately $ 70 billion in investment in AI and data centres, which is a significant commitment.
All layers of the AI stack are receiving significant investments, he noted.
Addressing the Rajasthan regional AI summit virtually, Minister Vaishnaw earlier today said artificial intelligence has become an inseparable part of everyday life, much like earlier technological revolutions driven by computers, semiconductors, the internet and mobile phones.
He noted that AI represents a transformation of a similar scale, comparing its future role to electricity, which once reshaped societies by reaching every home and individual.
He said AI is set to become equally universal, extending to every person, household and building. Emphasising its potential benefits, the Minister said this technological shift should be embraced and integrated into daily life.
Speaking about India's approach to AI, Minister Vaishnaw said the Prime Minister has a clear and well-defined vision, centred on using artificial intelligence for the benefit of society at large. The first guiding principle of this vision, he said, is the democratisation of AI, ensuring that every citizen has access to technology and equal opportunity to use it.
The Minister said India's AI Mission has gained global recognition, with several countries closely studying India's model of democratising artificial intelligence.
A key pillar of the mission, he explained, is the provision of affordable computing infrastructure. Highlighting the high cost of GPUs, he said it is not feasible for everyone to own such expensive resources.
He pointed out that in many Western countries, large corporations dominate AI computing by offering services at rates of USD 3.50 to 4 per hour. In contrast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced the idea of making high-quality computing facilities available in India at much lower costs. This initiative aims to ensure that students, start-ups, young innovators, scientists and engineers can access world-class computing resources without financial barriers.
Minister Vaishnaw said that under the AI Mission, 38,000 GPUs have already been made available to support the democratisation of artificial intelligence. He described this initiative as the vision of "common compute."
He also cited Stanford University's latest AI Index, which placed India among the top three nations in artificial intelligence, alongside China and the United States. The index, according to Minister Vaishnaw, evaluates progress in AI development, deployment and research. (ANI)