In a significant development for the country’s AI capabilities, Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, announced that India’s own large language model (LLM) will be ready for launch within the next 10 months. This ambitious initiative is part of the broader India AI Mission, which aims to create a model that reflects the country’s rich linguistic and cultural diversity.
At a press conference regarding the India AI Mission, Vaishnaw confirmed that the framework for the country’s AI model is already in place. The minister emphasized that the focus is on building artificial intelligence models that are contextually aligned with India’s culture, languages, and societal values. He also highlighted that the initiative will be supported by a state-of-the-art AI infrastructure, ensuring the project’s success.
The India AI Compute Facility plays a pivotal role in developing the nation’s AI model. Vaishnaw shared that the facility has already secured 18,693 Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), which are critical for the development of the LLM. These GPUs will provide the necessary computational power to train AI models specific to India’s needs, making the country’s AI ambitions a reality.
Vaishnaw further compared India’s infrastructure to that of leading AI players worldwide. For example, the DeepSeek AI was trained using 2,000 GPUs, while ChatGPT was trained on 25,000 GPUs. In contrast, India now boasts 15,000 high-end GPUs, reinforcing the country's growing AI prowess. This robust compute facility is set to support India’s evolving AI landscape and its goals within the global AI race.
A significant aspect of the India AI initiative is the shared compute facility, which is designed to be accessible to a wide range of stakeholders, including startups, developers, and researchers. The facility, equipped with 18,000 GPUs, will enable these groups to contribute to India’s AI development. As of now, around 10,000 GPUs are already operational, and the facility is expected to foster innovation and collaboration across various sectors.
Several key players are involved in providing the GPUs for this initiative, including Jio Platforms, Tata Communications, Yotta, and NextGen Data Centre. These collaborations will strengthen India’s AI capabilities and foster the growth of AI startups across the country.
One of the key goals of the India AI Mission is to develop an AI model that is uniquely tailored to the country’s diverse linguistic and cultural landscape. To achieve this, the government has called for proposals from AI startups, and six major developers are currently working on creating the LLM. The expected timeline for these models is between 4 to 6 months, with a maximum window of 8 to 10 months.
Vaishnaw underscored that with algorithmic efficiency, India’s AI developers can create world-class foundational models in a fraction of the time typically required for such projects. The minister expressed confidence that India’s AI model would be globally competitive, with the first results expected in the coming months.
Conclusion: India’s AI Future
India’s efforts to develop its own LLM and AI models represent a significant leap forward in the country’s technological evolution. With a strong focus on cultural and linguistic diversity, along with state-of-the-art infrastructure and collaborations with leading tech firms, India is poised to become a key player in the global AI landscape. The India AI Mission not only aims to advance India’s technological capabilities but also to provide opportunities for innovation across various sectors by fostering an environment of collaboration, research, and development.