Ai based startups in india

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday hinted at a “big announcement” in a few weeks in the context of conversational AI tools.

An image of Pope Francis donning a huge white puffer jacket with a cross hanging from it has sent social media users into a frenzy.

The photo is said to have been created using an AI (artificial intelligence) image generator called Midjourney.

The image shows Pope Francis, 86, wearing the flashy item over the top of his robes, along with a traditional white scull cap.

The image was outrageous enough to prompt Twitter followers.

The model and TV personality wrote: ‘I thought the pope’s puffer jacket was real and didnt give it a second thought. no way am I surviving the future of technology’.

Other social media users were also quick to chime in.

One TikTok user commented: ‘Christian Dior’.

Another wrote: ‘The father the son and the holy drip’.

A third posted: ‘They see him rolling, they prayin’.’

‘The fact people find a picture of the Pope in a long puffy jacket thrilling is a good indicator AI is going to have a really easy time destroying humanity,’ another person posted on social media.

The picture seems to have been first posted online on Friday, submitted to a subreddit for the AI image generator Midjourney, according to technology news website The Verge.

Midjourney is an independent research lab that explores ‘new mediums of thought and expanding the imaginative powers of the human species,’ according to its website.

As some on social media questioned whether the image could have been Photoshopped, The Verge pointed out that it has all the telltale signs of AI generation, including ‘the edge of a glasses lens that somehow transitions into its own shadow’.

Midjourney’s AI-based technology allows it to create images from simple text prompts.

Over the past year, there has been a surge in text-to-image generators amid the broader rise of generative artificial intelligence, which backs software that creates texts, sounds or images based on data it is fed.

Using the technology users enter prompts, from simple tasks, such as drawing a dog, to the absurd, such as rendering an object in a setting or form that it would not normally appear in.

The software then generates the image in the form of a realistic photo or professional painting.

The technology takes in billions of images from across the internet, identifying patterns between the photograph and text words that accompany them.

AI experts say that re-creating hands is a problem for the software, as it has not yet been able to fully understand what the word ‘hand’ means, making the body part difficult to render. This leads to it coming out slightly abnormal in the finished version.

Fake images created by artificial intelligence tools depicting former president Donald Trump have appeared on social media over the past week.

Many falsely showed the arrest of the former president, who predicted this outcome over his alleged payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.

On Thursday, Trump shared an AI-generated image on his own social media platform Truth Social, showing him kneeling in prayer.

Many of the images of Trump posted online had the appearance of staged artistic shots rather than real-life photographs.

Scenes depicting Trump being tackled to the ground by police officers were created using AI technology by Bellingcat journalist Eliot Higgins.

Some of the fake images showed Trump being chased down the street by police officers while his wife Melania screamed.

Others showed the former president in prison wearing an orange jumpsuit.

The sequence of images was created using Midjourney v5 artificial intelligence image generators.

Army contingents of nine African nations along with military observers from 11 other states are currently in India exercising together with the Indian Army. Indian naval ship Sujata was at the Mozambique coast from March 21-23 for joint surveillance of the Exclusive Economic Zone, with Mozambique naval officers onboard. The first Africa Chiefs’ Conclave to be held in Pune on March 28.

These are some of the recent high-profile flagship engagements of Indian armed forces with their African counterparts. Of late, India has been making serious efforts to re-engage with Africa, a continent of 54 resurgent nations coming out of the colonial rule, for a deeper economic and strategic partnership.

India and Africa share a close and historical relationship. The foundation of India-Africa defence relations are based on the two guiding principles namely ‘SAGAR’ or Security and Growth for All in the Region’ and ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, which means “the world is a family”.

In the very beginning of this century, India began its serious engagement with the most backward continent on Earth, which in India is considered a part of its extended neighbourhood. Amid fast changing geopolitics, there is a worldwide rush to woo the old and newly independent nations in Africa, often embroiled in internecine tribal conflict. From Focus Africa programme in the first and second decades, involving heads of states’ summit every third year, the Indian leadership has now taken the specific route of directly engaging with the defence ministers, heads of service chiefs and along with common soldiers of African countries.

The Indian military is currently busy with the 10-day Africa-India field training exercise (March 21-30), and for the first conclave of service chiefs that will be held in Pune on March 28. The AFINDEX exercise has attracted contingents from nine countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Niger, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia) with observers from 11 other African countries. These kind of engagements with African nations will be better able to project Indian defence policies and capabilities among them.

Undoubtedly, China has taken a lead in establishing its broader footprint in the region, but most countries are now realising the pitfalls of engaging with the Chinese government and enterprises. They are reeling under Chinese debt and their governments are getting a flak from the political class and intelligentsia, whereas India has gained credibility through a policy of capacity building under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation ( ITEC) programme.

Viewed in terms of bilateral trade, China surpasses India almost three times (US$ 260 billion) and has become a major player in the African defence equipment market. However, India is also gradually making its mark in the region, with trade multiplying to almost US$90 billion from a meagre US$7.2 billion in 2001. However, considering the rising demand and Indian capability to supply, bilateral trade is not commensurate with the desired level.

Gen Naravane Interview: The Best Way To Ensure Peace Is To Be Prepared For War, Ex-Army Chief Says

India-Africa Relations

India launched the Focus Africa programme in the first decade of the century, which developed a better understanding of India and Indians. In spite of India having a benign image as a nation of Gandhi and Nehru, besides Bollywood films, the country failed to take required advantage of the popularity among African masses. India strongly denounced all the colonial regimes in the continent and actively supported the freedom of those countries at international fora and organisations, but could not encash these overtures towards the continent.

The historical link between India and Africa witnessed a revival during the last three to four years, which has raised strong expectations of making deeper inroads, which will prove to be mutually beneficial and raise the possibilities of making India strongest partner both in trade and defence arenas. Africa is also significant for India because with 54 nations it forms a very significant voting bloc at the United Nations.

India always gets maximum support in the UN for various resolutions, with major bloc of African countries siding with India. The overwhelming participation of African defence officials during the last October DefExpo-22 held in Gandhinagar is a testimony to their desire to have deeper engagement with Indian armed forces, which offer special training courses to militaries from African nations. During the DefExpo, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh addressed the India Africa Defence Dialogue and had exclusive bilateral meetings with the African defence minsters in attendance. The theme of this second dialogue was “Adopting strategies for Synergizing and strengthening Defence and security cooperation”.

After the dialogue, an outcome document was released that recommended to enhance cooperation in the field of training in all areas of mutual interest by increasing training slots and deputation of training teams; empowerment and capability building of the defence forces of Africa; and participation in joint exercises and providing humanitarian assistance during natural disasters. An India-Africa security fellowship programme was also launched for experts of African nations.

In consultation with the African defence ministers in Gandhinagar, India proposed to institutionalise the India Africa-Defence Dialogue during successive DefExpos to be held once every two years. Institutionalisation of the India Africa Defence Dialogue will help building on the existing partnerships between African countries and India and to explore new areas of convergence for mutual engagements, including areas like capacity building, training, cyber security, maritime security and counter-terrorism.

The first-ever India-Africa Defence Ministers Conclave (IADMC) was held in Lucknow, during the DefExpo on February 6, 2020. This was the first in the series of pan-Africa events at the ministerial level in the run-up to the India-Africa Forum Summit IV. A joint declaration, ‘Lucknow Declaration’, was adopted after the conclusion of IADMC 2020 as an outcome document of the conclave.

ALSO READ | India Is Deepening Its Defence Engagement With Arab World. Why It’s Vital For Security And Stability

India-Africa Partnership: Four Areas In Focus

Defence cooperation is only one aspect of India-Africa relations. In fact, India plans to strengthen its partnership with Africa in four areas to fulfil aspirations of both the countries. First area is solar power, this will help bring clean energy, energy security and will create jobs in Africa. Second is defence trade and military exchanges in the Indian Ocean, manufacturing of armoured vehicles and UAVs. Third is physical and digital infrastructure, helping in IT/consultancy and project exports, and the fourth one is healthcare and pharma.

Bilateral trade is witnessing faster growth, as it has reached the level of almost US$90 billion. Merchandise trade grew by 34%, from US$ 67 billion in 2019-20 to US$89 billion in 20-21. Africa has now become India’s fourth largest trading partner.

Thus, from defence to trade to cooperation in international forums, India-Africa engagement has witnessed an upward trajectory. In fact, realising India’s popularity and credibility in the region, developed countries like the US and Japan are forming trilateral partnership with India for launching various development projects in the continent. With India’s manpower, the financial resources of these countries can be better utilised to counter the Chinese aggressive trade and security policies in the region.

The author is a senior journalist and strategic affairs analyst.

Immediate action by the government to help Indian startups in the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank ( SVB ) collapse ensured they were not adversely impacted by the “minor crisis”, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday. He also exhorted the entire startup community to think of the Indian banking sector as their trusted partner.

Vaishnaw , Minister for IT and Communications, also noted the rapid strides taken by India in areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum computing .

Speaking at India Global Forum event, the Minister said while there was a time when India was only seen as a consumer of technology, today “many global developers like to have Indian start ups, entrepreneurs and academicians as their partners, as technology gets developed”.

“… In these two technologies, we would like use of Indian talent for developing solutions for India and for the world,” he said.

To a question on whether India can produce something equivant to ChatGPT, the Minister said “wait for a few weeks there will be a big announcement.”

The Minister said it is important for global economy to have trusted partner like India.

All over the world there is a sense that India should emerge as a key semiconductor manufacturing destination, Vaishnaw said adding that Government is working “sincerely and diligently” to ensure a vibrant semiconductor ecosystem comes up in the country.

The Minister further said that after the SVB collapse, the government swung into action to handhold Indian start ups that had funds or deposits in the bank.

“How we responded to that minor crisis is that we immediately engaged with entire start up community and made sure that whatever deposits they wanted to shift to Indian banks… the entire process was flawlessly executed by collaboration between different arms of Government,” he said.

Not a single start up was adversely effected by the “minor crisis”, the Minister said describing Indian banking sector as resilient and with healthy balancesheet.

“We have requested all the start ups, don’t think about putting your funds in any bank anywhere…put your funds in India. And I will request all the Global start up community also, think of India as your trusted banking sector,” he said.

Vaishnaw exhorted global entrepreneurs and innovators across sectors to leverage the India edge to develop trusted technology for the country, and for the world.

Vaishnaw said the India’s 4G/5G stack had shown outstanding results, during testing.

“The roll out has started. From coming September we will be rolling 300 sites a day of this India’s own telecom technology stack,” he said.

visual stories

10

12

10

11

11

10

10

10

10

10

10

11

• 1
• 2
• 3