(Commonwealth_India) India is preparing to enter the global AI race by developing its own foundational AI models, positioning itself to compete with major international players like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and China’s DeepSeek R1. The Indian government’s ambitious plan includes the creation of a high-performance compute facility equipped with 18,693 GPUs, with the first 10,000 expected to be operational soon. This infrastructure will be crucial for training AI models and accessible to a range of entities, including startups, researchers, and developers. India is making this accessible at an affordable rate, offering a 40% subsidy on GPU usage. The facility is very cost-effective, with rates that are much lower than the global benchmark. This means that smaller businesses and organizations can help develop AI models without having to pay the huge amounts of money that are usually needed for such advanced computing.
This initiative is part of India’s broader strategy to not only create its own AI models but also to build a sustainable ecosystem that can address large-scale challenges specific to the country. One of the major objectives is to develop AI models that can address critical issues like agriculture, learning disabilities, and climate change—areas that directly impact India’s vast population. By creating models tailored to local contexts, India aims to leverage AI’s potential to solve problems on a national scale. The government is already collaborating with prominent startups, giving them a window of six to 10 months to build these models, signaling a fast-paced and ambitious approach to AI development.
India’s move comes at a time when China’s DeepSeek R1 model has disrupted the global AI landscape with its low-cost and highly efficient design, challenging the dominance of US-based companies in the space. While US-based firms like OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT, have invested heavily in their AI technologies, India is taking a more affordable and rapid approach, leveraging algorithmic efficiency and access to cost-effective compute power. Despite skepticism from figures like Sam Altman of OpenAI, who has publicly downplayed India’s ability to compete on this front, the Indian government is confident that its ability to harness inexpensive compute resources will give it a competitive edge.
This initiative is also a strategic move that strengthens India’s geopolitical position. By creating its own foundational AI models, India aims to reduce its dependence on global models that may not always be suited to its diverse linguistic and cultural landscape. This localization of AI is seen as crucial in ensuring that AI technologies serve the unique needs of Indian society while also positioning India as a significant player in the global AI ecosystem.
In addition to building the computational infrastructure, the Indian government is also focused on developing a comprehensive AI ecosystem that ensures the safety and ethical use of AI technologies. Plans are underway to establish AI safety institutions that will address challenges such as AI bias, privacy concerns, and the need for transparent and explainable AI models. These institutions will work on creating frameworks for AI governance, providing solutions for issues like machine unlearning, synthetic data generation, and algorithmic auditing.
India’s larger AI Mission, which has received substantial funding to enhance the country’s AI capabilities, includes this initiative. The mission aims to foster technological innovation, create local data sets, develop AI applications, and provide skill-building opportunities for the workforce. By focusing on building up AI skills in India, the government hopes to reduce its reliance on outside companies and make sure that AI’s benefits are used in a way that is fair, includes everyone, and fits India’s specific needs and problems.
Ultimately, the government’s push to develop foundational AI models and a strong AI ecosystem reflects India’s ambition to be a key player in the global AI space. By offering affordable computing infrastructure, collaborating with startups, and focusing on solving critical national challenges, India is setting itself up to make significant strides in the AI race, establishing itself as a technological and economic powerhouse in the field.