'Big names, small vision': Congress' Supriya Shrinate slams Ashwini Vaishnaw over AI underfunding

Supriya Shrinate claimed that while the United States spent 198 billion dollars on Artificial Intelligence last year, India's expenditure failed to reach even 1.9 billion dollars

New Delhi: Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said on Tuesday that the NDA government has failed to provide the funding promised for the AI sector.

Highlighting a massive funding disparity, Shrinate claimed that while the United States spent 198 billion dollars on Artificial Intelligence last year, India's expenditure failed to reach even 1.9 billion dollars, despite the government's ambitious India AI Impact Summit goals.

Speaking to ANI, Supriya said, "I would like to say two things about this AI Summit. First, regarding the AI Summit itself: the tech entrepreneurs, those who actually created AI products and paid for stalls, when the Prime Minister arrived, they were moved out of the main hall. Some tech entrepreneurs reported that their equipment was stolen; some said they couldn't provide demonstrations because there was no stable internet. An AI summit is being held where taking laptops and cameras inside is not allowed. An AI tech summit is being held where only cash is accepted, and digital payments are not."

She further stated, "Additionally, people stood in line for four hours despite everyone having completed 'Digi-checkins'. People are quite troubled. Many tech entrepreneurs, founders, and prominent AI figures have said that this entire summit felt like it was just for security protocols and making 'reels' for the Prime Minister. Its main organiser is the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, whose minister is our 'Reel Minister', Ashwini Vaishnaw. So now, I don't understand who they will blame for their mismanagement, maybe Rahul Gandhi, or perhaps Pandit Nehru."

On being asked about Ashwini Vaishnav's statement that India is expecting more than USD 200 billion in investments over the next two years, Supriya said," Look, whether it is Ashwini Vaishnaw or his other cabinet colleagues, these people love stating big figures, lakhs of crores. Nothing actually ever happens."

"This same Ashwini Vaishnaw provided funding for Artificial Intelligence last year. America spent 198 billion dollars; we allocated 1.9 billion dollars to spend, and we couldn't even spend that. Ashwini Vaishnaw's claims are always grand, but the results are meagre. This has been seen in the Railways, and now it's evident in the AI Summit. There's so much focus on making 'reels' that they can't even see what is happening on the ground at the AI Summit," Supriya added.