India to Fund AI-LLM Applications: Vaishnaw

New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) The evaluation of AI-Large Language Model applications is in the final stage, and over the next few weeks, the government will shortlist entities that will receive funding under the India AI Mission, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday.

Vaishnaw was speaking at an event to inaugurate the Vinod Dham Centre of Excellence for semiconductors and microelectronics at Delhi Technological University (DTU).

"The evaluation of the AI LLM (Large Language Model) applications is in its final stage. Within the next few weeks, we should be able to award the first few LLM model teams, who will then start getting the funding under the AI mission," Vaishnaw said.

The minister in February announced that India will have its own AI platform in the next 18 months, for which the government had invited proposals. It has received 67 applications for the project.

Now, industries have started creating AI applications, and many of them have been recognised by the AI mission, he added.

"As you know, after the first 14,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) that we got as a part of the AI mission, the empanelment process for the second tranche is on, and we are getting equally good response. This means our startup community and AI researchers will get a very large GPU computing facility in the coming days," the minister said.


The Centre of Excellence is named after renowned technologist and DTU alumnus Vinod Dham, popularly known as the 'Father of the Pentium Chip', the centre represents a major stride in India's mission to become a global hub for semiconductor innovation and manufacturing, DTU in a statement said.

The inauguration ceremony was also attended by Padma Bhushan awardee Vinod Dham, along with DTU Vice Chancellor Prateek Sharma and other dignitaries.

Sharma also announced plans to launch joint degree programmes with international universities, including Purdue University, and said that DTU's Centres of Excellence are committed to solving societal challenges through technological solutions.