With the aim to aid the development of solutions based on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the government has launched a dedicated portal for Artificial Intelligence.
The platform will act as a one-stop digital platform for AI related developments in India, sharing of resources details of startups, investment funds in AI, companies, and educational institutions related to AI in India.
AI Portal for AI related development
The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), chipmaker Intel and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are also part of the project.
If we’re able to empower ordinary Indians with the power of technology, then surely it will be a defining moment for us,” said IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
He also said that AI will never replace the human mind and that it can’t replace human conscience. The Minister also implored Intel to come with products in AI, which can be replicated in global countries. He reiterated that all sectors must learn to adopt digital means for doing business.
The portal is meant to work as a “one-stop digital platform” for all AI related developments in India. According to sources, the team is also working on investor pitch events in the future and looking to make data sources available through the portal.
The government wants the portal to be a “one-stop digital platform” for all AI related developments in the country.
“India must be a leading country in the development of Artificial Intelligence in the world, leveraging upon its vast Internet-savvy population and data it is creating.
India’s AI approach should be of inclusion and empowerment of human beings by supplementing growth and development rather than making human beings less relevant,” Prasad said.
The government also launched a national program for the youth, called “Responsible AI for Youth” with is aimed at empowering the young students of the country with appropriate new age tech mindset, relevant AI skill-sets and access to required AI tool-sets to make them digitally ready for the AI related future.
The program has been created and launched by the National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics and IT in collaboration with Intel India, with support from the Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Human Resource Development.
“Responsible AI for Youth” will empower the youth to become AI ready and help reduce the skill gap, while enabling youth to create meaningful social impact solutions.
The Program is designed to reach out to students from Government schools pan India and provide them with an opportunity to become part of the skilled workforce in an inclusive manner, the ministry said in a statement.
The National Programme is open to students of classes 8 – 12 from Central and State government-run schools and in its first phase, each of the State Education Department will nominate 10 teachers who will identify 25-50 potential students for the Program.
The identified students will attend online training sessions on AI and understand how to identify social impact ideas/projects that may be created using AI and submit their ideas through a 60 seconds video explaining a proposed AI enabled solution.
From the submitted ideas in the form of videos, the top 100 ideas will be shortlisted and these students will be invited to attend residential boot camps or online sessions (subject to COVID-19 situation); to take them through a deep dive AI journey.
Post the boot-camps/ online sessions, these students will be asked to create real-time projects and submit their final project in a video format on the website.
Adequate handholding will be provided by Intel certified AI coaches and mentors throughout to ensure that ideas mature as prototypes. The experts will shortlist the top 50 project ideas and students will be invited to showcase their projects either face to face or in an online format.
Further, the top 20 innovative projects will be selected by an independent committee of experts and provided opportunities to showcase at the relevant platforms, the government said.