NPCI establishes technology division to work with AI and blockchain, appoints Vishal Kanwat as CEO

Co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, Jensen Huang, proposed transforming Kazakhstan into an international center for the development of Physical AI—a type of artificial intelligence that interacts with the real world.

This proposal was made during a meeting with the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, on October 23, according to a statement from the Akorda press service. President Tokayev emphasized that digitalization and artificial intelligence are national priorities, noting that 2026 has been declared the year of digitalization and artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan.

Huang noted Kazakhstan's significant potential for AI development, citing the availability of energy resources and the training of qualified specialists. The NVIDIA CEO stated that creating artificial intelligence primarily requires energy resources, as well as people with knowledge in science, mathematics, and technology, and that Kazakhstan possesses great potential in these areas.

He also reported on the promotion of cooperation with Kazakh companies such as Firebird AI KZ Ltd and Kazakhtelecom. Furthermore, NVIDIA supports Higgsfield, which is positioned as Kazakhstan's first technology unicorn, a startup valued at at least one billion US dollars.

After the meeting, Tokayev awarded Huang the Dostyk Order of the First Class for his contribution to the development of artificial intelligence in Kazakhstan. Previously, Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev had spoken about the broad opportunities for cooperation between Uzbekistan and the United States in the field of data center creation.

At the iFLYTEK Global Developer Festival 2026, held in Beijing on October 22, the company introduced a suite of tools for creating and deploying artificial intelligence agents on its open platform. In addition to the Spark X2.6 model, Agent OS, a platform for enterprise agents, APA for business process automation, the XFYUN CLI developer environment, and the Xingchen TaaS platform, which stands for Token as a Solution, were announced.

Agent OS is responsible for task planning and organizational management. It integrates employees, business systems, and agents into so-called scene packages, utilizing organizational-level contextual design for continuous improvement of workflows and skills. The company claims that this has increased inter-system interaction efficiency by 90% in deployed projects, with over 75% of processes capable of operating autonomously.

The APA system handles task execution. Employees can either record a screen session or describe a task in plain language. APA packages routine operations, such as inventory checks, form filling, or initiating approval procedures, into reusable skills that agents call when necessary, integrating with ERP and CRM systems. iFLYTEK reported that its procurement verification system achieved 97% accuracy when working with the China Energy Investment Corporation.

For developers, the XFYUN CLI tool allows calling over 700 atomic AI functions and more than 200 agent adaptation capabilities with a single command, simplifying environment setup, authentication, and access. The AIUI Code tool enables developers to describe the required functionality, and the agent then calls the corresponding plugins to implement it. Furthermore, a digital employee function was introduced, which updates robot configurations via voice. The platform is also working on creating reusable agent resources, including skills, MCPs, connectors, CLIs, and industry knowledge.

Xingchen TaaS operates on top of iFLYTEK's Xingchen MaaS platform, which supports the Spark model and several open-source models. The intermediate layer of this platform includes tool orchestration, an agent engine, knowledge management, and model runtime control. The application layer covers simultaneous translation, digital employees, office productivity enhancement, knowledge Q&A, and marketing, offering packages for sectors such as finance, healthcare, education, and energy. The core idea is that companies should move beyond simply acquiring tokens and calling models, transitioning to building complete business applications.

iFLYTEK also demonstrated new interaction tools for residential homes, robots, and public spaces. The company's robotic platform supports simultaneous communication among up to five people and demonstrates speech recognition accuracy of 90.1% even in loud noise conditions. According to the company itself, the open platform has 11.87 million developers. It should be noted that all presented performance metrics are data provided by the company itself.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has prepared an introductory module for students from Class 9 to 12 under the provisions of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, focusing on Computational Thinking (CT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Developed under the guidance of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, the main objective of this module is to provide secondary level students with a fundamental understanding of artificial intelligence and computational thinking. Students do not need prior knowledge of any specific subject to begin this course.

This module emphasizes developing crucial skills in students such as critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Additionally, students will gain help in understanding how AI works, where and how it is applied in real life, as well as its potential limitations and possibilities.

This program is based on an experiential and activity-based learning methodology, which includes activities like discussions, practical exercises, experiments, and self-reflection. These activities can be conducted with or without the aid of digital tools, allowing students from schools with various resources and facilities to benefit from it.

The module defines computational thinking as a process of identifying problems and solving them in an organized manner. It will also help students develop a basic understanding of the growing role and practical applications of artificial intelligence in daily life.

Special attention has been given to the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence in the module. It includes topics such as data privacy, misinformation, fairness, digital security, and critical verification of information generated by AI. The aim of this initiative is to teach students to check the truthfulness and reliability of content received from AI, rather than blindly trusting it.

Furthermore, it underscores the importance of human judgment, creativity, and ethical responsibility in technology-based education.

This module aligns with the priorities of the National Education Policy 2020, which centers on developing technological awareness and essential 21st-century skills in school students. NCERT aims to prepare students to understand emerging technologies, use them wisely, and responsibly face the challenges associated with them by integrating computational thinking, AI literacy, and ethical awareness.

This module is designed for students from Class 9 to 12, and its structure is kept such that it can be implemented in diverse educational environments, including schools with limited availability of digital devices.