Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology will establish centres for transformational artificial intelligence in partnership with academia and industry to develop AI-based solutions, said a senior officer from MeitY. While announcing the establishment of a fund of funds to provide financial support to startups at all stages of growth, Abhishek Singh, head of Digital India Corporation and the National e-Governance Division said that India has a large number of AI-skilled soldiers. Speaking at an industry event in Delhi, he said: "While significant AI research is being conducted at all of our academic institutions, we continue to fall far behind China and the United States in terms of AI research. Certain measures have been taken, but we must continue." Singh also said that the Department of Science and Technology, as part of the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems, has established Technology Innovation Hubs (NM-ICPS).

With the aim to scale artificial intelligence (AI) productivity, chipmaker Intel said that it is acquiring San Francisco-based firm SigOpt that deals in the optimization of AI software models at scale. The deal is expected to close this quarter. Transaction terms were not disclosed. SigOpt's team – including SigOpt CEO and co-founder Scott Clark and CTO and co-founder Patrick Hayes – will join the Machine Learning Performance team in Intel Architecture, Graphics and Software (IAGS). Raja Koduri, Intel senior vice president, chief architect and general manager of IAGS said: "SigOpt's AI software platform and data science talent will augment Intel software, architecture, product offerings and teams, and provide us with valuable customer insights."