IndiaAI Mission's COO Kavita Bhatia Announces GPU Resources for Second Round of Expressions of Interest Participants

Kavita Bhatia, Chief Operating Officer of the IndiaAI Mission, recently announced that the initiative will provide computational/GPU resources to Indian startups, businesses, academic institutions, autonomous bodies, and R&D organizations participating in the second round of applications. This round of applications focuses on developing practical tools and frameworks, covering themes such as watermarks and labels, ethical AI frameworks, AI risk assessment and management, stress testing tools, and deepfake detection tools. All interested organizations must submit proposals by midnight on January 9.

Bhatia emphasized that as part of the National Semiconductor Mission, many academic institutions already have GPU resources and can offer high-end computing capabilities. In addition, the AIRAWAT platform, created in India and currently the country's largest AI supercomputing platform with 410 petaflops of computing power, will also support participants. India is also planning to add over 10,000 GPUs and will allocate computing resources based on eligibility criteria and other conditions.

This program is open to all startups, businesses, and academic institutions in India. Any organization or startup established in the past two years can participate independently or in collaboration. Regarding the possibility of extending the deadline, Bhatia stated that a decision would be made before the deadline, with an announcement if necessary. She also noted that participation in the program does not require industry partners, and funding will be allocated based on milestones.

Bhatia made these remarks during the "Building Safe and Trustworthy AI: Advancing the India AI Ecosystem" seminar organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Other attendees included Balaraman Ravindran, Director of the Responsible AI Center (CeRAI) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, and Rohini Srivathsa, Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft India and South Asia.

At the seminar, Srivathsa pointed out that many security issues involve the use of prompt data (data for AI models), which may be sensitive personal data or proprietary information. Additionally, the consent clause in India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) bill is another important aspect.