Kolkata: IIT-Kharagpur on Monday said it will establish India's first dedicated academic school focused on Physical Artificial Intelligence (AI), with an investment of Rs 35 crore.
The Benjamin Gupta School of Physical AI will be set up under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by IIT-Kharagpur, its distinguished alumnus and philanthropist Vinod Gupta, and the IITKGP Foundation USA, according to an institute statement.
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The initiative will receive Rs 12.5 crore from the Vinod Gupta family, Rs 10 crore from an anonymous alumnus, with the institute funding the remaining amount.
Named in memory of Gupta's late son, Benjamin Gupta, the school will house the Department of Artificial Intelligence and support interdisciplinary academic and research activities, a statement said.
Unlike conventional AI, which primarily relies on data, algorithms and digital applications, Physical AI focuses on developing intelligent systems that can understand and interact with the physical world by incorporating scientific principles, real-world sensing and intelligent control, it said.
The school will focus on areas such as physics-informed machine learning, scientific AI, digital twins, intelligent robotics, autonomous systems, advanced sensing and AI-enabled experimentation, it added.
It aims to develop reliable, explainable and responsible AI technologies, particularly for safety-critical applications where physical accuracy, robustness and accountability are essential, the statement said.
Academic programmes are expected to begin in the upcoming session, subject to necessary approvals. They will cater to students, researchers and working professionals from engineering, physical sciences, life sciences and medicine, with an emphasis on combining domain expertise with contemporary AI capabilities.
"AI has transformed the way we process information. Its next great leap will be in transforming the way we understand, engineer and interact with the physical world. IIT-Kharagpur aspires to lead this transition in India through the Benjamin Gupta School of Physical AI," institute director Suman Chakraborty said.
He said the initiative would seek to move beyond treating AI as a black-box solution and encourage professionals to combine algorithmic capabilities with fundamental scientific and domain-specific knowledge.
The school will bring together academia, industry, healthcare institutions, research laboratories, startups and international partners to accelerate research, technology development and professional reskilling, the statement added.
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