New Delhi: The Center has laid out an ambitious vision for artificial intelligence that is directly borrowed from one of India’s biggest digital success stories – UPI.The idea, officials say, is to provide the world with “a range of trustworthy AI solutions”: a shared, reliable digital backbone that countries and companies can build on without being locked into proprietary platforms or paying royalties to a dominant few.Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday that India wants to shape how global artificial intelligence is developed and governed by balancing innovation with accountability and using its own “techno-legal” approach rather than copying the European Union’s regulatory framework or the US’s market-driven model.Explaining the similarities with UPI, Vaishnaw said India’s strength lies in building frugal, low-cost engineering solutions that work at scale and can be shared as global public goods. “We will create a series of solutions that have been tested for safety and all possible parameters, and then we will present the same solutions to the world for use and development,” he said.Just as UPI is available globally, India also intends to share its AI capabilities in a similar spirit. “We are not asking for any royalty or license fee. We have made it a common core,” the minister said, adding that some countries have shown interest in adopting a digital framework similar to India’s.This approach also defines sovereign AI, Vaishnaw said, clarifying that it does not mean cutting off global cooperation. “Sovereign AI means having our own models, infrastructure, and the ability to deliver solutions to large numbers of people without having to rely on anyone else’s approval,” the minister said.The push comes against a backdrop of global anxiety about artificial intelligence — from job losses and a volatile tech market to worries about the monopoly of big tech companies.“There is a good consensus emerging among global leaders that artificial intelligence should be used for good and all harmful effects should be contained,” he said.To address workforce issues, the government is working on three fronts simultaneously: retraining the existing workforce, creating new talent pipelines and updating education curricula, the minister said. “Those three things are happening simultaneously,” the minister said.India is also expanding its artificial intelligence infrastructure, with plans to add 20,000 GPUs to its general computing facilities in the next six months to support startups, researchers and students.
