India Approves 58 AI Centres and 543 Data Labs

The Government of India approved the establishment of 58 Artificial Intelligence Centres of Excellence (AI-CoEs) and 543 Data and AI Labs to bolster the nation's technology infrastructure. Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada announced the initiative in the Lok Sabha, stating that the IndiaAI Mission has identified 762 AI use cases spanning 62 different ministries.

Government officials plan to develop the AI-CoEs through collaborations with industry partners and state governments. The Data and AI Labs will be situated within polytechnics and ITIs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities to provide specialized training in data curation and science.

To support the human capital required for these initiatives, the government awarded 686 fellowships to students across 178 institutions. Additionally, the administration is establishing an IndiaAI Safety Institute to strengthen indigenous governance and research capabilities regarding AI safety.