New Delhi: IndiaAI, an Independent Business Division (IBD) under the Digital India Corporation (DIC) of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), on Tuesday launched the IndiaAI Face Authentication Challenge, as part of the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative (IADI).  

This challenge invites startups and companies to develop a highly accurate, secure, and scalable AI-enabled solution for image verification and application de-duplication.

The core objective is to leverage AI to strengthen the integrity of large-scale public examinations, ensuring a just, fair, and impartial merit-based selection of candidates, the Ministry of Electronics and IT said in a statement.

"Solutions should have cross-sectoral applicability for deployment across various government departments and State organisations," the statement said.

Participants in the Challenge must create an application that can use one-to-many matching techniques against applicant databases from the past to verify and de-duplicate photos.

This end-to-end AI solution needs to use sophisticated facial verification algorithms for automated duplicate detection, going beyond conventional logic-based techniques. The objective is to protect institutional integrity by ensuring that each authorised applicant receives a single, distinct ID.

The participants would get exciting prizes, including: Top 10 shortlisted teams will receive Rs 5 lakh each to refine and test their solutions on a sample dataset.

Additionally, the top two teams may be awarded a two-year contract and up to Rs 1 crore for final solution deployment.

This project is in line with the Indian government's goal of using AI to promote equitable development and responsible AI advancement.

The application portal and submission instructions are available to interested parties on the IndiaAI website, indiaai.gov.in. The form must be submitted by October 25.

In order to democratise the advantages of AI for all societal levels, strengthen India's position as a global leader in AI, promote technological independence, and guarantee the ethical and responsible application of AI, IndiaAI is the implementation agency for the IndiaAI Mission. (IANS)