IIT Kharagpur to set up India's first school of 'physical AI'

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur will establish India's first dedicated academic school focused on 'physical artificial intelligence' with an investment of Rs 35 crore. IIT Kharagpur's Benjamin Gupta School of Physical AI will be set up under an agreement signed by IIT Kharagpur, its distinguished alumnus and philanthropist Vinod Gupta, and the IITKGP Foundation USA.

The new school initiative will receive Rs 12.5 crore investment from the Vinod Gupta family, Rs 10 crore from an anonymous alumnus, with the IITKGP funding the remaining amount.

Named in memory of Gupta's late son, Benjamin Gupta, the school will house the department of AI and support interdisciplinary academic and research activities. Unlike conventional AI, which mainly 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.

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IIT Kharagpur's school of physical AI

The phyiscal AI school will focus on various fields such as physics-informed machine learning, scientific AI, digital twins, intelligent robotics, autonomous systems, advanced sensing and AI-enabled experimentation. It aims to develop reliable, explainable and responsible AI technologies, particularly for safety-critical applications where physical accuracy, robustness and accountability are essential.

As per reports, the academic programmes are expected to begin in the upcoming academic year 2027, after necessary approvals. The school will admit students, researchers and working professionals from engineering, physical sciences, life sciences and medicine, with an emphasis on combining domain expertise with contemporary AI capabilities.

While talking about the school establishment IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty said: "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".

IIT KGP director further added that said that the the initiative seeks to move beyond treating AI as a black-box solution and encourage working 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. With inputs from PTI