Government steps to promote upskilling or reskilling of Artificial Intelligence

• The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) has initiated a programme titled FutureSkills PRIME in collaboration with NASSCOM, a B2C framework for re-skilling/ up-skilling of IT professionals.

Various initiatives in AI

• FutureSkills PRIME Portal: Under Artificial Intelligence, 36,528 candidates are enrolled in deep-skilling courses and 47,744 candidates are enrolled in Foundation courses.
• National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence: to develop an ecosystem for the research and adoption of Artificial Intelligence i.e. #AIFOR ALL.
• National AI Portal: A repository of Artificial Intelligence (AI) based initiatives in the country at a single place.

Capacity building in Artificial Intelligence

Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme:

• To enhance the number of PhDs in Electronics System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) and IT/IT Enabled Services (IT/ITES) sectors in the country.
• The research areas under the scheme include Artificial Intelligence (covering 82 PhD fellows) and Machine Learning (covering 59 PhD fellows).

National Programme on Responsible Use of AI for Youth:

• To empower the youth to become AI ready and help reduce the skill gap.
• To promote AI awareness among Government school going children.

Foster innovation through research:

• Several ‘Centers of Excellence’ on various Emerging Technologies including Artificial Intelligence.
• These centers connect various entities such as startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, government and academia to look into problem statements and develop innovative solutions.

National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS):

• To promote R&D, Human Resource Development (HRD), Technology Development, Entrepreneurship Development, International Collaboration etc.
• 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (this) have been established in reputed institutes across the country in advanced technologies including Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence.

Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI):

• The Government of India is one of the founding members of this initiative.
• It is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.

Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE):

• First-of-its-kind global meeting of minds on Artificial Intelligence to drive India’s vision and roadmap for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment through responsible AI.

Future Skills PRIME programme

• It targets to re-skill/ up-skill aspirants in emerging technologies so that they stay relevant in their present job with improved prospects, besides finding new avenues in future job-roles.
• The programme also targets those who may have lost their existing jobs due to disruptive and emerging technologies.
• The programme takes into account employment linkages, such as a ‘Career Prime’ web-page on the platform and an integrated ‘Career Portal’.
• These programs provide information on IT-ITeS jobs, internships, apprenticeships, hackathons etc.
• Incentives are available to the trainees, including those from economically weaker backgrounds, after the learner is successfully assessed and certified.
• The incentive mechanism is aimed at motivating the learner to successfully complete the online up- skilling/reskilling programs.

Conclusion

• AI will be a watershed moment in humanity's technological history, with humans' reliance on machines and algorithms for decision-making at an all-time high.
• Every strategy document promoting AI must be aware of the potential elements in the AI ecosystem that could jeopardize ethical behavior, compromise privacy, and jeopardize security protocols.

Exam Track

Prelims Take Away

• FutureSkills Prime
• Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI)
• Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme

Mains Track Q. Analyze the scope of Artificial Intelligence(AI) in the current scenario of digital technology applications.