AI in warfare: India is betting big on 'aatmanirbhar' military AI

As Anthropic's Claude model found itself at the centre of a Pentagon standoff over AI's role in warfare, India is moving to ensure it won't have to depend on foreign AI for its own defence needs.

Bengaluru-based Sarvam AI and other homegrown artificial intelligence startups are in advanced talks with the defence ministry to set up a Rs 300 crore Centre of Excellence (CoE) aimed at developing indigenous AI capabilities for the armed forces, The Economic Times reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The CoE is expected to house multiple intelligence units that will build AI systems trained specifically on Indian data and operational contexts, including the country's geographical terrain and climatic conditions, the report said. These models will be used to power advanced surveillance, reconnaissance and decision-support systems for the armed forces.

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The timing is significant. Anthropic's Claude was reportedly deployed in active US military operations, a development that subsequently triggered a public standoff between the AI company and the Pentagon. Anthropic objected to its models being used for autonomous weapons or domestic mass surveillance.

Concerns about national security vulnerabilities from relying on foreign-built models have been growing as the US and China race to build both large language models and the hardware infrastructure to support them.

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India's own armed forces have already begun integrating AI into active operations. During last year's Operation Sindoor, defence officials confirmed that the military used AI to process sensor data, weapons feeds and other inputs to identify enemy positions in Pakistan. AI-enabled meteorological systems also contributed to long-range precision targeting by analysing 26 years of weather data.

The broader context is an exponential expansion of AI in modern warfare. In the Ukraine-Russia conflict, both sides have deployed AI for intelligence gathering, data analysis and autonomous attack drones.  

Sarvam in focus

Sarvam drew national attention in February after launching homegrown large language models at the India AI Impact Summit.

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However, according to the ET report, the defence CoE said that AI capabilities for military use go well beyond language models. The primary requirements centre on industrial-scale data processing to support command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, collectively known as C4ISR, systems for accelerated targeting and decision-making. 

Unmanned aerial systems, satellite platforms, integrated air and missile defence, naval systems, and electronic warfare are among the other areas where AI is expected to play a growing role.