IndiaAI Mission Receives 506 Foundation AI Model Proposals, Extends Deadline

IndiaAI Mission Receives Overwhelming Response

The IndiaAI Mission, India's initiative to bolster artificial intelligence capabilities, has received an overwhelming response with 506 foundation AI proposals submitted across three phases 1

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. This significant interest demonstrates the country's commitment to building robust AI infrastructure and developing indigenous AI models.

Proposal Submission and Deadline Extension

Given the high level of interest, the IndiaAI Mission has decided to extend the deadline for submissions under phase 3 of the call for proposals. The original deadline of April 30 has been pushed back, with new dates for submission to be announced after the examination of already submitted proposals is completed 1

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Breakdown of Proposals

The proposals were received across multiple rounds:

• Initial round: Approximately 67 proposals
• Second round: 120 applications
• Third round: Ongoing, with the extended deadline 2

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Selection of Sarvam.ai

As part of the first phase of approvals, Sarvam.ai has been selected to initiate the development of an indigenous foundational model 1

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. This marks a significant step in India's journey towards creating its own AI capabilities.

Sarvam.ai's AI Model Specifications

Sarvam.ai's proposed model boasts impressive features:

• 70 billion parameters
• Multi-modal and multi-scale design
• Capable of reasoning
• Designed for voice interaction
• Fluent in Indian languages
• Ready for secure, population-scale deployment 1

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Model Variants and Development

Sarvam.ai is developing three model variants to cater to different needs:

1. Sarvam-Large: For advanced reasoning and generation
2. Sarvam-Small: For real-time interactive applications
3. Sarvam-Edge: For compact on-device tasks 1

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Collaboration and Resources

To develop these models, Sarvam.ai is:

• Collaborating with AI4Bharat at IIT-Madras, a leader in Indian language AI research
• Gaining access to 4,096 Nvidia H100 GPUs for six months from IndiaAI Mission's common compute cluster 1

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Importance of Indigenous AI Models

The Indian government's push for developing native foundational AI models stems from the recognition that foreign models are often trained on Western datasets and may not align well with Indian languages and contexts 2

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. This initiative aims to create AI solutions that are more relevant and applicable to India's unique needs and diversity.

Future Developments

As the IndiaAI Mission progresses, further selections of proposals are expected to be announced shortly 1

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. This ongoing process highlights India's commitment to becoming a significant player in the global AI landscape while addressing its specific requirements and challenges.