The Kerala government has become the first state to create a portfolio exclusively dedicated to artificial intelligence, to be managed by senior IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty.

The Kerala government on Wednesday released the official gazette notification detailing the allocation of portfolios among the 20 ministers in the Congress-led United Democratic Front government. The AI portfolio has been allocated to Kunhalikutty, who is also in charge of industries, IT and start-ups. Kunhalikutty had held the IT portfolio since 2001 in the A.K. Antony and Oommen Chandy-led governments.

Joseph C. Mathew, a leading IT consultant in Kerala, told The Telegraph that he was not aware whether the government had actually decided to set up a separate department for AI.

“Chief minister V.D. Satheesan had announced only a new department for the elderly welfare. Clarity has to emerge on whether the existing IT department has been renamed. If a department name has to be changed, there are various administrative overheads to be addressed. That means Kerala is thinking seriously about AI,” Mathew, who was the IT adviser to former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, said.

A source in the IT ministry told this newspaper that the allocation of the dedicated portfolio on AI was at its nascent stage. It’s learned that industry experts in the AI sector were yet to be included in Kunhalikutty’s office, which would take a few more days to settle in.

In neighbouring Tamil Nadu, chief minister C. Joseph Vijay had promised the establishment of a dedicated ministry for artificial intelligence, along with an AI University and an AI City, in the TVK’s election manifesto.

The Kerala government came out with the gazette notification on Wednesday, making it the first state to allocate a dedicated portfolio for AI. The Tamil Nadu government folowed suit on Thursday by allocating the AI portfolio to TVK MLA R. Kumar.