The Centre has approved the establishment of 58 Artificial Intelligence Centres of Excellence (AI-CoEs) and 543 Data and AI Labs across the country, while the IndiaAI Mission has identified 762 AI use cases spanning 62 ministries, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada informed the Lok Sabha.
In a written reply on Wednesday, the Minister said the initiatives are aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence in governance, public services, education and research.
AI Use Cases Identified Across Ministries
Prasada said that under the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative (IADI), a workshop on AI in public service delivery was organised in April.
The workshop enabled ministries and departments to:
- Assess their data capabilities
- Identify potential AI use cases
- Develop AI roadmaps for governance and public service delivery through a collaborative and consultative approach
“IADI has built a pipeline of AI solutions across priority sectors including healthcare, agriculture, governance, climate, cybersecurity and financial regulation, with pathways from ideation to pilot deployment and scale,” the Minister said.
58 AI Centres of Excellence Approved
The government has approved a scheme to establish 58 AI Centres of Excellence across states and Union Territories in partnership with state governments and industry stakeholders.
Under the approved framework, Tamil Nadu has been allocated two AI Centres of Excellence.
543 Data and AI Labs to Boost Skills
Under the IndiaAI FutureSkills pillar, the government has approved the establishment of 543 Data and AI Labs in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics located in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
The labs will provide training in:
- Artificial intelligence
- Data annotation
- Data curation
- Applied data science
Of the total approved labs, 18 will be established in Tamil Nadu.
686 AI Fellowships Awarded
The Minister also highlighted the progress of the IndiaAI FutureSkills Fellowship programme, which supports undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students pursuing education and research in artificial intelligence.
According to the government:
- 686 fellowships have been awarded across 178 institutions nationwide.
- Tamil Nadu accounts for 162 fellowships, including:
- 96 undergraduate
- 34 postgraduate
- 32 PhD fellowships
IndiaAI Safety Institute Under Development
The government is also setting up the IndiaAI Safety Institute, which will serve as a national hub for indigenous research and development in AI safety.
According to the Minister, the institute is intended to strengthen India’s technical capabilities and institutional framework for the safe governance and responsible deployment of artificial intelligence.
