Meta signs MoU with govt's INDIAai for research and collaboration on AI

Social media giant Meta on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with government’s INDIAai, initiative, for collaboration on artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, which will make Meta’s open-source AI models available for use by Indian AI ecosystem.

The collaboration is aimed at advancing research and development in AI emerging technologies, seeking breakthroughs in AI tech and its applications. Both organisations may also consider establishing a Centre of Excellence to nurture the start-up ecosystem of AI and other emerging technologies. Meta and INDIAai will also work together to promote responsible AI practices through the collaborative development of comprehensive tools and guidelines.

Meta’s AI research models like LLaMA, Massively Multilingual Speech, and No Language Left Behind will be used under partnership to build datasets in Indian languages. This may enable easier translation and development of large language models, while prioritising low-resource languages.

The government expects the effort to foster social inclusion, improve government service delivery, and spur innovation using large language models, Generative AI, cognitive systems, and translation models.

Additionally, the partnership will also look at raising awareness about AI's potential benefits and risks among various stakeholders, including policymakers, businesses, civil society, and the general public.

The MoU was signed by Abhishek Singh, CEO of India AI, and Shivnath Thukral, director and head of public policy, Meta in India.

“India is at the forefront of adopting digital technologies, and it is evident that AI and emerging technologies will play a pivotal role in expanding the advantages of technology to a broader population. Through this partnership with Meta, the joint research and development endeavours will tackle large-scale challenges by leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies like Llama and other open-source solutions,” Singh said.

Nick Clegg, president, global affairs, Meta, said: “Meta’s open approach to AI innovation is complementary to India’s leadership on digital issues. Giving businesses, start-ups and researchers access to these technologies can open up a world of social and economic opportunities. ‘India AI’ is an exciting programme and with close collaboration between government and industry, we can strengthen India’s digital leadership and help to ensure AI tools are built for India’s unique needs.”

Furthermore, INDIAai and Meta will work together to enhance accessibility to AI compute resources for researchers, start-ups, and organisations with limited resources. Knowledge sharing and collaboration in AI and emerging technologies will be facilitated through workshops, seminars, conferences and similar platforms.