Govt launches national artificial intelligence mission for industry and schools
The two new initiatives of the government to promote AI in the country is a national knowledge portal and 'Responsible AI for youth' programme.
The government has launched a new national artificial intelligence (AI) portal which will serve as a knowledge hub for all those who are engaged in this domain.
The portal – www.ai.gov.in was launched by Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Law and Justice and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad and it was also on the occasion of the first anniversary of the second tenure of the Narendra Modi government.
This portal has been jointly developed by the Ministry of Electronics and IT and the IT Industry. The National e-Governance Division of Ministry of Electronics and IT and NASSCOM from the IT industry will jointly run this portal.
Union Minister for Electronics and IT, Law and Justice and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad
According to the government, the portal will work as a one-stop digital platform for AI-related developments in India, sharing of resources such as articles, startups, investment funds in AI, resources, companies and educational institutions related to AI in India.
The portal will also share documents, case studies, research reports etc and has a section about learning and new job roles related to AI.
The government also launched a national programme for the youth called 'Responsible AI for Youth'.
The aim of this programme is to give the young students of the country a platform and empower them with appropriate new-age tech mindset, relevant AI skill-sets and access to required AI tool-sets to make them digitally ready for the future.
The programme has been created and launched by the National e-Governance Division, Ministry of Electronics & IT in collaboration with Intel India, with support from Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Human Resource Development. DoSE&L will help reach out to State Education Departments to nominate teachers as per eligibility criteria.
According to the government, '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 programme 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.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “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."
He said, “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.”
The 'Responsible AI for Youth' programme will be open for students between class 8 and 12 from Central and state government-run schools across the country.
This programme will be implemented in phases where the selected teachers and students will be trained in AI which will include residential boot camps or online sessions.
The students will also be guided by Intel certified AI coaches and mentors to create prototypes from their ideas and these will be showcased at relevant platforms.
Edited by Javed Gaihlot