India Nominates IIT-Madras as UN AI Centre of Excellence

India has taken a significant step toward global leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by nominating the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-Madras) as a UN Centre of Excellence (CoE) for AI. The nomination, made by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), was announced at a high-level UN event in New York, signaling India’s growing commitment to AI capacity building, skilling, and inclusive digital development, especially in the Global South. This strategic move strengthens India’s role in shaping AI governance and sharing its expertise in democratizing access to AI technologies worldwide.

IIT-Madras: A Global AI Nerve Centre

Recognized as an Institute of Eminence, IIT-Madras has been at the forefront of AI research, skilling, and innovation in India. Its nomination as a UN Centre of Excellence is part of an initiative by the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET) to create a network of global AI hubs.

These Centres will work collaboratively to,

• Address the AI skills gap
• Promote ethical AI governance
• Enhance inclusive access to AI technologies across regions

As a CoE, IIT-Madras will now play a pivotal role in shaping AI education, innovation, and policy not only for India but for other developing countries as well.

Empowering the Global South

India’s nomination of IIT-Madras underscores its desire to support Global South countries—many of which face constraints in building AI talent pools and compute infrastructure. Through this CoE, India aims to,

• Share its growing repository of open-source AI models
• Collaborate on skilling programs
• Support local innovations using AI for healthcare, agriculture, education, and governance

India’s AI Capacity and Future Goals

India has launched the ambitious India AI Mission, under which it is rapidly expanding its AI capabilities,

• 38,000 GPUs already deployed for public use
• 300 open-source AI models hosted and more under development
• Aiming to skill 10 million people annually, from data annotators to AI researchers
• This mission is one of the largest of its kind globally, reflecting India’s strategy to not only build domestic AI strength but also act as a global contributor.

About UN ODET and the Global AI Network

The United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET) is an initiative to help the UN better respond to the opportunities and challenges brought by rapidly evolving technologies, including AI.

As part of its agenda, ODET is creating a network of Centres of Excellence, each nominated by member countries. These centres will,

• Serve as regional knowledge hubs
• Facilitate training and research
• Guide global standards on AI safety, ethics, and governance

With IIT-Madras joining this network, India is now part of a select group shaping the international AI development ecosystem.

Key Points

• IIT-Madras nominated as UN CoE for AI under UN ODET
• Part of India’s mission to support AI capacity building globally
• India’s AI Mission aims to skill 10 million people annually
• Hosting AI Impact Summit in February 2026
• Focus on People, Compute, Data, Safety to bridge the AI divide