Recent Current Affairs related to AI

IIT Bombay has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the State University of New York (SUNY) Old Westbury to collaborate in the fields of engineering, AI, multidisciplinary research, and higher education.

The 2nd Pax Silica Summit was held in Washington DC, USA. During the summit, 35 nations, including India, endorsed a Statement on AI, an initiative spearheaded by the USA to establish trusted and resilient supply chains for AI technologies.

The 2-day event was hosted by Jacob Helberg, Secretary of Economic Affairs at the US Department of State. The Indian delegation was headed by S Krishnan, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The summit marked the expansion of the US-anchored tech security ecosystem, with new signatories including Germany, Greece, and the Netherlands (Europe); Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, and Panama (America); and Kazakhstan (Central Asia).

According to the "QS World Future Skills Index 2027" released by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), India secured the 13th position globally with a score of 89.4. It is ranked 1st in the South Asia region and is the only country from the region to feature among the top 15.

The report evaluated 89 countries. India ranked 18th in Skills Alignment, 22nd in Academic Readiness, 5th in Future of Work, and 14th in Economic Transformation. The USA led the overall rankings with a score of 99.2, followed by Australia and the UK.

France-based Safran Electronics & Defence and the Indian Earth intelligence firm SatSure Analytics India Pvt Ltd have signed an MoU to collaborate on Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) solutions for the Indian market.

This partnership is established under the 'France-India Year of Innovation' initiative, which aims to promote cooperation in aerospace and defence technology.

jUMPP, an AI-driven fintech platform, has received approval from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to operate as a Third Party Application Provider (TPAP). This authorization allows the platform to integrate UPI payment capabilities into its application.

Maruti Suzuki India has partnered with 5 startups under the fifth cohort of the Maruti Suzuki Incubation Program (MSIP).

The selected startups are MiniMines, Easework AI, Sarvam AI, Siftly, and CodeMate AI. These startups will develop solutions focused on operational efficiency, customer experience, and recycling of end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The MSIP is conducted in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has awarded the IndiaAI Fellowship to 7 Computer Science Engineering (CSE) students at Chandigarh University.

Each recipient will receive financial assistance of ₹1 lakh for innovative projects using AI and Machine Learning applications.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has launched an AI-enabled grievance redressal platform named 'PFRDA Pension Sahayak' for subscribers of pension schemes regulated by the authority.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), has pledged $371 million to Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd (SISL), a subsidiary of Sify Technologies Ltd.

The financing will support the development of AI-ready, energy-efficient Data Centre (DC) infrastructure in Navi Mumbai and Chennai.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a 7-member Working Group on AI (WG-AI) to guide insurance companies regarding the adoption, governance, and oversight of AI technologies.

The WG-AI is chaired by Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, Director of the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad. Deepak Gaikwad, General Manager (GM) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at IRDAI, has been appointed as the member-convener of the group.

According to the "Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2026" (GSER 2026) released by Startup Genome, Bengaluru is ranked 15th globally among the top startup ecosystems. It has also emerged as the second-best AI-native cluster in Asia, positioned behind Beijing (China).

Silicon Valley (USA) topped the global rankings, followed by New York City (USA) and London (UK).

The Digital India BHASHINI Division (DIBD) has signed an MoU with the Assam Innovation & Startup Foundation (AISF) to collaborate on promoting language technology and Generative AI solutions across the state.

The Maharashtra government has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Google for Education to train teachers in AI and digital technology.

The 18-month initiative aims to strengthen teachers' digital competencies, improve AI literacy, and promote technology-enabled learning in schools, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

PM Narendra Modi has visited France to strengthen the India-France Special Global Strategic Partnership, focusing on trade, technology, and security. He held bilateral talks with President Emmanuel Macron in Nice and participated in the 52nd G7 Outreach Summit as a guest partner.

PM Modi and President Macron co-launched the 'Bharat Innovates' initiative in Nice, featuring participation from over 120 Indian startups. At the VivaTech 2026 expo in Paris, the largest technology exhibition in Europe, India was designated as the 'AI Country of Focus'.

The visit resulted in 13 key outcomes, including the adoption of the 'India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030', the establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) on AI Governance, and the expansion of the UPI in France. PM Modi also addressed the Indian diaspora during the 'Bonjour Modi' event held in Paris.

The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) has selected 3 Indian space startups as the first set of Non-Governmental Entities (NGEs) to receive funding under its Technology Adoption Fund (TAF) scheme.

The selected startups are Astrobase Space Technologies Pvt Ltd (Bengaluru), SatSure Analytics India Pvt Ltd (Bengaluru), and TM2SPACE Technologies Pvt Ltd (Hyderabad). Under this initiative, SatSure Analytics India Pvt Ltd will develop a Large Earth Observation Model (LOM) named "Dhaarini".

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has launched the tech-driven Smart Warehousing System at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. This system represents the world's largest deployment of AI and Internet of Things (IoT)-based technologies in public-sector storage.

The system is currently operational across 216 grain warehouses managed by the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC). The Food Corporation of India is scheduled to transition 150 of its warehouses to the smart system by October 2026.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in the presence of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, has inaugurated the advanced manufacturing facility of Jabil Inc. at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Ranjangaon, Pune.

The facility aims to create an export-centric ecosystem for manufacturing next-generation hardware for AI data centres.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has released its “2026 Technology Pioneers” cohort, which features 100 early-stage companies from 23 countries. The USA leads the list with 43 startups, followed by China and the UK.

India is represented by 9 startups in the 2026 cohort (compared to 10 in the 2025 list), bringing the total number of Indian firms in the WEF cohort to 28. The selected companies will contribute to WEF initiatives through a two-year engagement program.

Sarvam AI, an Indian full-stack sovereign AI startup, has become the 130th unicorn of India. The company raised $234 million as part of its $300 million Series B funding round.

With this, the valuation of the company has reached $1.5 billion, making it the only AI startup in India to achieve this valuation.

Bengaluru-based Avataar has launched 'Varya', India’s first indigenous, distilled video AI model, designed to make generative video storytelling accessible and affordable at a population scale. It was launched in partnership with the IndiaAI Mission.

The AI model operates as a text-to-video and image-to-video foundation model, offering enhanced speed and cost efficiencies to the digital ecosystem.