Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state: -
(a) whether the Government proposes to set up centre of excellence for research on artificial intelligence in the country and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
(b) whether the said agency will completely be funded by the Government and if so, the details thereof?
(a) : Under the National Strategy on Artificial Intelligence (AI), NITI Aayog has recommended a two-tier integrated approach to incentivise basic and applied research, with setting up of :
• Centers of Research Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (COREs) to specialise in creating new knowledge through basic research and source fundamental knowledge / technologies that will be needed to keep India prepared for the next generation of technologies. COREs will be housed in interested academic institutes of repute through ‘Expression of Interest’.
• International Centre for Transformational AI (ICTAIs), industry-led initiatives responsible for applied research to deliver commercial applications / technologies by working with Centres of Research Excellence in AI, government bodies, industry, and academic institutions. ICTAIs would be set up in collaboration with industry players (PPP) and will be be overseen by entity (“ICTAI Inc”), set up by Task Force.
(b) : For COREs, it is proposed that the initial funding would be provided by the Government on a grant basis, with commitment to fund for the first 5 years, based on regular review of progress made against benchmarks .For ICTAIs, it is proposed the government would provide initial seed funding. However, guidelines for funding would be finalized by the Taskforce. Detailed guidelines for CORE and ICTAI are being formulated.
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