ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents to the world, opportunities to complement and supplement human intelligence and improve the ways people live and work. With its wide range of applications, AI and machine learning are present in almost all technological aspects of our lives. On a macro-scale, AI and machine learning have had a disruptive impact on several sectors including agriculture, retail, healthcare, education amongst others. In line with the potential of AI, the spending on AI and machine learning has been on a steep upward curve. AI expenditure in India saw an increase of 109.6% during 2018 to reach US$ 665 million. Moreover, AI expenditure is projected to grow with a CAGR of 39% over the period 2019-2025 touching around US$ 11,781 million by 2025⁽¹⁾.  As per NITI Aayog, by 2035, AI has the potential to add 1 trillion dollars to India’s economy.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) mission of the PM-STIAC focuses on efforts that will benefit India in addressing societal needs in areas such as healthcare, education, agriculture, smart cities, and infrastructure, including smart mobility and transportation. This mission will work with extensive academia-industry interactions on developing core research capability at the national level which will include international collaborations. It will help push technology frontiers through the creation of new knowledge and in developing and deploying applications.

Recognizing this potential that AI presents, the then Government of India in the budget 2018-19, mandated the NITI Aayog to establish the National Programme for AI with a view to guiding the research and development in new and emerging technologies. India’s National Artificial Intelligence Portal, ‘INDIAai’ has also been launched as a one-stop digital platform for AI-related developments in India⁽²⁾.