India to be a global AI powerhouse: OpenAI executive after India academy launch
IndiaAI Mission
on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the US-based company's educational platform,
OpenAI Academy
, to promote
artificial intelligence
skills in India.
This makes it the first international rollout of OpenAI's online learning platform. India has the second largest user base for ChatGPT.
'The (AI) tools and the latest development frameworks should be available to all the startups and researchers so that new apps can be developed, new solutions can be created at population scale,' union IT minister
Ashwini Vaishnaw
said in a virtual message at the launch in New Delhi.
The initiative is expected to further strengthen India's resolve to democratise technology and contribute to the IndiaAI Mission, he said.
The mission, which is also supporting the building of Indian foundational models, is receiving interest to do so from the likes of Essential AI cofounder Ashish Vaswani and Two AI founder Pranav Mistry, an official said on the sidelines of the event.
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Both are Indian-origin computer scientists and entrepreneurs in the US.
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The takeaway is that the IndiaAI Mission is attracting talent and entrepreneurs back to India, the official said.
OpenAI chief strategy officer
Jason Kwon
said India is becoming a 'global AI powerhouse', and understands that maximising AI's benefits requires significant investments in core infrastructure and cultivating AI talent.
'By leading in these areas and empowering people to harness frontier intelligence, India can accelerate that growth and discover scientific breakthroughs and develop solutions to some of society's hardest challenges,' Kwon said.
India's vast and growing pool of AI talent, vibrant entrepreneurial spirit and strong government support to expand critical infrastructure mean the country is poised to succeed in all areas of the AI stack, he added.
'As demand for AI professionals is expected to reach 1 million by 2026, there's a significant opportunity and a need to expand AI skills, development and make sure people from every part of India can participate and benefit,' Kwon said.
Through the partnership, OpenAI will contribute educational content and resources to IndiaAI's 'future skills' platform and to the iGOT Karmayogi civil servant capacity building platform. It will also provide up to $100,000 worth of API credits to 50 IndiaAI Mission-approved fellows and startups.
'I am sure with this partnership, we will be able to strengthen our educational ecosystem, we will be able to empower all our students, we will be able to support our entrepreneurs and our engineers in building state-of-the-art AI applications and models,' IndiaAI Mission chief executive Abhishek Singh said.
OpenAI will help train a million teachers in the use of
generative AI
. It will also conduct hackathons in seven states to reach 25,000 students and webinars and workshops delivered by its domain experts and partners in six cities, the company said.
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