The government plans to set up data and AI labs in tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country and has invited proposals from all 36 states as well as Union Territories for the same, Parliament was informed on Friday.

Minister of state for electronics and IT Jitin Prasada in a written reply to Rajya Sabha said that besides proposals expected from states and UTs, IndiaAI in collaboration with NIELIT also plans to establish 27 data labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across the country.

"All the 36 states and Union Territories (UTs) have been requested to submit their nominated list of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)/Polytechnics located in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities for the setting up of data labs. Additionally, IndiaAI in collaboration with NIELIT plans to establish 27 data labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across the country," Prasada said.

The data and AI labs are part of the skilling initiative of the government under IndiaAI mission.

The minister said that a model IndiaAI Data Lab in the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Delhi has already been set up, which acts as a reference point for the infrastructure to be set up in tier 2 and tier 3 cities as a part of the initiative.

Prasada said that IndiaAI fellowships are being awarded annually to 400 B-Tech and 500 M-Tech students working in AI domain from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)-recognised engineering institutions.

"Top 50 National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranked research institutes have been asked to take new PhD scholars under IndiaAI PhD fellowship," he said.

On steps being taken by the government for creation of safe and trusted AI, the minister said that eight responsible AI projects have been selected to address the need for robust guardrails to ensure the responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI technologies.

According to the list shared by Prasada, the selected projects include Machine Unlearning from IIT Jodhpur, Synthetic Data Generation from IIT Roorkee, AI Bias Mitigation Strategy from National Institute of Technology Raipur, AI Ethical Certification Framework from IIIT Delhi and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC), among others.

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