New Delhi [India], February 20 (ANI): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has announced that the state will soon roll out a comprehensive State AI Mission aimed at transforming governance, public services, and economic growth through responsible and large-scale adoption of artificial intelligence at the AI Impact Summit in the national capital.

The initiative is positioned as the next phase of the state's broader digital transformation strategy and is aligned with key policy frameworks covering IT/ITeS, startups, industrial development, MSMEs, and renewable energy, according to a release.

Highlighting the state's strong fundamentals, over 85 million residents, a rapidly growing youth population, and robust agricultural and industrial sectors, the Chief Minister said the mission will enable scalable prosperity and inclusive development.

He noted that the 4.21 lakh crore State Budget for 2025-26, which emphasises infrastructure, capital investment, industry expansion, and youth-focused initiatives, complements the AI roadmap and supports the long-term goal of becoming a developed state by 2047.

The government aims to make governance predictive, proactive, and data-driven, ensuring faster, smarter, and more personalised services for citizens. Artificial intelligence will always function with human oversight to maintain safety, transparency, and trust.

Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Reform, Perform, Transform' vision, the state is aligning its AI push with national initiatives such as Digital India, Startup India, Skill India, and Atmanirbhar Bharat, the release noted.

Under the mission, predictive governance tools will help identify risks in agriculture, healthcare, nutrition, employment, and disaster management in advance, enabling early action. Strict standards of transparency, auditability, and privacy protection will be mandatory across all AI systems.

Administrative departments will also receive AI-enabled tools for drafting, summarisation, analytics, and decision support to improve efficiency and policymaking.

The state plans to build a strong AI ecosystem based on five pillars: shared computing infrastructure including GPU clusters and data centres, talent development through academic and industry certification programmes, startup funding and incubation, incentives for industrial adoption, and research partnerships through innovation centres.

Universities will host AI Centres of Excellence, industry-sponsored labs, and doctoral fellowships, while regional language AI models will be developed to expand accessibility, according to a release.

To establish itself as a major AI startup hub, the government will launch AI-focused accelerators in Bhopal and Indore and provide incentives such as seed grants, patent reimbursements, incubation support, and marketing assistance. An AI Governance Sandbox will allow startups to pilot solutions in agriculture, healthcare, and public administration with time-bound validation and faster procurement pathways.

Over the next five years, the state targets more than 500 AI startups and over 50,000 AI-linked jobs, leveraging its demographic strength as a digital advantage. Industrial sectors including pharmaceuticals, textiles, automotive components, mining, and food processing are expected to benefit from AI-driven optimisation and predictive maintenance, potentially boosting productivity by 15-25 per cent.

MSMEs will receive technology upgrade grants, shared AI labs, and advisory support to ensure small businesses also gain from AI adoption.

To support rising computational demand, solar-powered and green data centres will be promoted, ensuring digital expansion and environmental sustainability advance together. The rollout roadmap outlines consolidation of existing AI projects and readiness building in 2026-27, scaling across departments in 2027-28, and full institutionalisation of AI as a core governance capability from 2028 onward, as per the release.

State leaders said these initiatives demonstrate that Madhya Pradesh is politically committed, policy-ready, and institutionally prepared to lead India's AI transformation. The Chief Minister concluded that from the heart of India, the state aims to help shape the country's intelligent, self-reliant, and technology-driven future. (ANI)