In a resounding endorsement of India’s technological prowess, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw declared that the nation stands at the forefront of countries embracing and advancing artificial intelligence. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos during a high-level panel titled ‘AI Power Play,’ Vaishnaw highlighted India’s systematic strides across all five layers of AI architecture: applications, models, chips, infrastructure, and energy.
The minister emphasized that India’s AI strategy prioritizes real-world implementation over the obsession with building the largest models. ‘Returns on investment don’t come from the biggest models,’ he asserted. Instead, he pointed out that 95 percent of real-world use cases can be effectively addressed using models in the 20-50 billion parameter range.
India has already pioneered efficient, cost-effective AI models deployed successfully across diverse sectors to boost productivity and efficiency. This approach underscores a commitment to economically sustainable AI deployment, maximizing benefits at minimal cost.
Challenging IMF rankings, Vaishnaw cited Stanford University’s report placing India third globally in AI penetration and readiness, and second in AI talent. He detailed government initiatives to democratize access to advanced AI capabilities through public-private partnerships.
A key highlight was the national computing facility aggregating 38,000 GPUs, subsidized by the government and offered to students, researchers, and startups at one-third of global prices. Complementing this is a nationwide AI skilling program aiming to train 10 million people, empowering India’s IT sector and startups for domestic and global AI-driven services.
Vaishnaw concluded optimistically, forecasting India’s ascent to the world’s third-largest economy in the coming years, fueled by such strategic tech advancements.