The Indian IT & Electronics minister Ashwini Vaishaw hinted at a big announcement in the coming weeks, leading to speculation about the government’s plans and the possibility of an Indian version of ChatGPT.
Having been around for years, ChatGPT has suddenly captured the world’s attention with the power of generative AI and its potential to augment human capability. Even governments worldwide are taking note, including the Indian government, which is reportedly working with generative AI. The Indian IT & Electronics minister Ashwini Vaishaw hinted at a big announcement in the coming weeks, leading to speculation about the government’s plans and the possibility of an Indian version of ChatGPT.
While details on the government’s plans are scarce, industry experts believe that the government may integrate generative or conversational AI into its citizen services, such as the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG). This could enhance the citizen experience by simplifying the process of applying for or availing of various government services.
Assuming the government is exploring leveraging conversational AI in citizen services, Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), Cyber Media Research, is of the opinion that conversational AI today represents a massive shift in the way AI is understood. “Conversational AI represents a seismic shift in redefining the way people approach search for information online,” he noted, adding that the “adoption of conversational AI could enable citizen queries on public services to be swiftly answered involving minimal to no human involvement. This would further enhance India’s leadership in digital governance.”
The government has previously worked with AI for citizens, such as the launch of Digital India Bhashini in July 2022 and the National Programme for AI established by NITI Aayog in 2018-19. The government is also building an educational tool using the Microsoft-backed ChatGPT to allow students to ask questions about their curriculum in any Indian language.
Integrating conversational AI into its services appears to be the logical step, as developing a ChatGPT competition isn’t easy. Even Google’s Bard AI, with all its expertise and resources, is struggling to compete against ChatGPT.
