{
  "id": 17748249,
  "title": "India floats AI plan under which ‘The model travels to the data, rather than the data travelling to the model’",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/02/india-floats-ai-plan-under-which-the-model-travels-to-the-data-rather-17748249",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-02T04:39:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register Software",
    "slug": "the-register-software",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/public-sector/2026/11/02/india-floats-ai-plan-under-which-the-model-travels-to-the-data-rather-than-the-data-travelling-to-the-model/5306872"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "India has proposed a new initiative called the Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture (DEPA) for AI Training. The aim of this scheme is to regulate and secure the flow of information for the development of AI models trained on local data. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is behind the concept, which envisions \"the model travels to the data, rather than the data travelling to the model.\"\n\nAt the heart of DEPA are \"Training Data Providers\" (TDPs) such as hospitals, banks, and government agencies. These entities share anonymized and encrypted data with a \"Data Exchange Platform\" (DEP) where entities called \"Training Data Consumers\" (TDCs) access the data to train their models. The DEPs operate secure data environments where the data remains encrypted and isolated even during processing. These environments also enforce rules set by TDPs that describe how TDCs can use the data.\n\nDEPA includes measures to prevent the model from learning or revealing individual specific information using differential privacy techniques. All activities within the secure data environments are immutably logged for audit purposes, ensuring the process is both secure and transparent. India's government already operates several data exchanges, but it remains unclear how much work remains to make DEPA a reality.\n\nMeitY envisions that DEPA will enable model-makers to train AI models using local data for various applications, such as AI-driven diagnostics, drug discovery, public health management, secure sharing of diverse financial data, and personalized learning in education. The framework states that successful adoption of DEPA across these domains will be essential for realizing India's vision of inclusive growth and responsible AI leadership on the global stage.",
  "summary": "Wants more local AI, without Big Tech getting open access to everything",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}