The Government has announced that India is all set to launch its own safe and secure indigenous Artificial intelligence (AI)model at an affordable cost. Briefing the media in New Delhi yesterday, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted that compared to global models costing 2.5 to 3 dollars per hour usage, India’s AI Model will cost less than 100 rupees per hour after 40 per cent government subsidy. He also highlighted that the attractive half-yearly and annual plans will further make it more affordable. Mr Vaishnaw mentioned that 18 citizen-centric applications about the agriculture sector, learning disability and climate change will be part of this AI Model.

Mr. Vaishnaw also emphasized that the Indian AI model is a timely step as India is a trusted nation among the comity of nations. He added that this initiative will help the country emerge as a more reliable technological powerhouse of ethical AI solutions in the days to come. He said that India AI mission is now closer to customizing indigenous AI solutions for the Indian context using Indian languages. Mr. Vaishnaw added that scientists, researchers, developers and coders are working on multiple foundational models in this regard and at the given pace. The Union Minister expressed hope that the Indian AI model is likely to be ready within 6 months.

On a query on privacy concerns around DeepSeek, Mr Vaishnaw informed that it will be hosted on Indian servers soon after security protocol checks so that users, coders, and developers can benefit from its Open Source Code.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic thinking is very inclusive. The Minister added that the Prime Minister believes in making modern technology accessible to everyone to ensure the people at the bottom of the pyramid are economically empowered.