Sri Lanka is to launch a Rs. 100 million artificial intelligence (AI) fund, in a bid to invest in domestic AI-driven startups and research, Sri Lanka Telecom Chairperson Mothilal De Silva told media yesterday (12), at a press conference held to inaugurate the government’s own AI Expo, that is slated to take place in September.
“We will also launch the national AI fund, in parallel to the AI expo. It will forward homegrown AI startups and research. Proceeds of this AI expo will go to do this fund,” De Silva said, speaking of the finances relevant to building the national fund.
Responding to a question posed on the monetary target for the fund, De Silva said that the government seeks to aim for “roughly Rs. 100 million.”
“Global AI adoption is accelerating from just 20% of organisations in 2017, to 78% this year. Nations such as China and India are already leading the change, as AI leaders. AI will play an increasingly greater role in everyday lives. The question is not whether AI will transform the world, but if Sri Lankans will lead or follow?” De Silva said.
Further, he added that of Sri Lanka’s digital economy’s target of growing to $ 15 billion by 2030, AI is to contribute 10-12% of its growth.
Addressing the gathering, Digital Economy Deputy Minister Eranga Weeraratne said that Sri Lanka is comparatively behind its regional neighbours, and is required to adapt, in order to play a pivotal role in AI.
“Here’s the truth, Sri Lanka is falling behind. India has a national AI adoption rate of almost 57%, Singapore runs more than 97% of government services with AI. Even emerging nations like Vietnam have set 2030 as their AI leadership target.”
The emergence of China’s Deepseek R1 model in January has reshaped the global view of AI innovation being led by American tech companies.
The DeepSeek R1 model, launched to rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT in performance, was developed at a fraction of the cost that had been invested into the American AI chatbot.
India’s own large language model (LLM) Sarvam AI secured total funding of $ 53.6 million over two rounds.