IIT Kharagpur to set up India's first dedicated School of Physical AI

The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT) Kharagpur (KGP) announced the establishment of the Benjamin Gupta School of Physical AI through a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the alumnus and philanthropist Vinod Gupta and the IITKGP Foundation USA. This initiative aims to advance the artificial intelligence (AI) research that connects computational models with scientific principles and physical systems. This is the first dedicated physical AI school in India.

This establishment will be supported by an investment of Rs 35 crore, that also includes Rs 12.5 crore from the Vinod Gupta family and an anonymous alumnus will share Rs 10 crore. The remaining amount will be contributed by the institute for the infrastructure, the Department of Artificial Intelligence and interdisciplinary research.

The school, named in memory of Gupta's late son, is expected to begin academic programmes in the upcoming academic session, subject to the required approvals. The agreement also includes various courses like hybrid master degree programmes, executive education, professional certifications and specialised interdisciplinary courses.

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Research and training focus of IIT Kharagpur's School of Physical AI

The school will work across areas such as intelligent robotics, autonomous systems, digital twins, physics-informed machine learning and AI-enabled experimentation. Its research applications are expected to cover advanced manufacturing, energy, agriculture, healthcare, climate technologies and intelligent infrastructure.

Unlike conventional AI applications focused largely on data processing and prediction, physical AI integrates artificial intelligence with real-world sensing, physical laws and engineering constraints. The agreement also aims to develop the ‘reliable, explainable and deployable solutions’ for the safety-critical applications.

IIT Kharagpur director Suman Chakraborty said the next phase of artificial intelligence would involve changing how people understand and interact with the physical world. “Its next great leap will be in transforming the way we understand, engineer and interact with the physical world,” he said.

The School of Physical AI will also focus on helping professionals apply AI within their existing disciplines. According to the institute, engineers, researchers and medical professionals will be encouraged to combine domain expertise with AI tools rather than depend solely on algorithmic outputs.

Through interdisciplinary projects, laboratory exposure, industry-linked learning and professional reskilling, the initiative aims to strengthen India's ability to develop and deploy AI-based technologies for practical applications.