Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw meets Meta's AI chief

The Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw met Meta’s Chief Ai Scientist, Yann LeCun. It was to explore partnership opportunities in artificial intelligence (AI) with emphasis on job creation and skill development in the nation.

In a post shared on X, a social media platform, the minister mentioned how India’s AI Mission has bolstered-industry-academia-government partnerships. “Met @ylecun (Yann LeCun) of Meta to discuss Bharat’s AI potential. Our AI mission is advancing with strong collaborations amongst industry, government, and academia: GenAI CoE with IIT Jodhpur and Meta. YuvAI Skilling with AICTE and Meta to train 1,00,000 students on LLM,” Vaishnaw shared

On Friday, October 25, IndiaAI and Meta announced a collaboration launching the centre of Generative AI titled “Srijan” at IIT Jodhpur. In addition, launching YuvAI Initiative for Skilling and Capacity Building” in partnership with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). The collaboration aims to boost India’s AI capabilities by developing indigenous applications, advancing skill development, and supporting research to contribute to the nation’s vision of tech sovereignty. Under this collaboration, Meta will support the establishment of the Centre for Generative AI, "GenAI CoE," at IIT Jodhpur.

The primary objective of the centre is to promote responsibilities and ethical AI innovation in India. It will focus on open science and fostering strong AI research ecosystem. The CoE’s goal is to empower the researchers, students and practitioners through dedicated educational resources, capacity-building initiatives and policy advisors.

Where as the YuvAI programme will involve a Gen AI Resource Hub offering access to courses, caste studies and datasets; an LLM for Young Developers Course by Meta; and foundational workshops on AI concepts. Participants will get an opportunity to engage in “Unleash LLM Hackathons,” where students will provide AI solutions to address press real-world issues.

The ideas with prospect from such hackathons will receive mentorship, market exposure and seed funding. Moreover, an AI Innovation Accelerator will support 10 student led-startups exploring open-source AI models, providing sources for incubation and growth.