Open Source AI Models May Cease to Exist: IT Minister

Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s information technology minister, recently stated during a panel discussion that one of the primary reasons India needs to develop its large language model (LLM) is that AI models may not remain open source indefinitely. 

Vaishnaw was also joined by Vinod Dham, founding advisor of Agrani Labs, also popularly known as the ‘Father of Pentium’. Dham said India should adopt a hybrid approach and utilise open models, given the billions of dollars needed to build a proprietary model. 

In response to Dham’s comments, Vaishnaw stated that India should not hesitate to build models, as open-source models might eventually become unavailable. 

Vaishnaw also took a jibe at OpenAI, pointing out how it transitioned its models to closed source after GPT-2, suggesting that open source model makers today might take a similar approach. 

“We should also change [OpenAI’s] name,” he remarked.

Several experts in the industry share a similar sentiment. At AIM’s MLDS 2025 event, Paras Chopra, founder of Lossfunk, said, “Yes, it’s true we have [open source models like] Llama 3, DeepSeek-V3 today, but do we really believe that in the next five years, we’ll have a Llama 10, or a DeepSeek-V10 just like it’s openly available today?”

Last year, the government of India announced the IndiaAI mission and allocated ₹10,000 crore over five years to develop homegrown AI infrastructure and models. Recently, Vaishnaw stated that he expects India’s LLM to be ready within the next ten months. 

The government allocated ₹2,000 crore in the Union Budget 2025 for the IndiaAI mission and has received 67 proposals to develop indigenous AI foundational models, including 22 LLMs, to address India’s diverse linguistic and cultural landscape. 

In the panel discussion, Vaishnaw also indicated that a few days ago, the Parliament signed an MoU with the IndiaAI mission. This facilitates the derivation of large data sets for training. He also added that data is available from Doordarshan, All India Radio, and many other sources. 

Recently, the government launched AI Kosha and the Compute Portal under the IndiaAI Mission. These initiatives are designed to provide startups and researchers with access to datasets and high-performance computing resources. 

AIM found that AI startups such as Sarvam AI, Krutrim, CoRover.ai, TurboML, Lossfunk and IIIT Hyderabad applied under the proposal.

The IndiaAI mission will feature over 18,000 GPUs through public-private partnerships with companies such as Jio Platforms, NxtGen Data Centre, Locuz Enterprise, E2E Networks, CtrlS DataCenters, CMS Computers, Orient Technologies, Tata Communications, Vensysco, and Yotta Data Services.