Artificial intelligence is moving deeper into India’s traditional medicine ecosystem, with the Ministry of Ayush expanding its use of AI across healthcare, research, education and investment, sources said on September 19.

The move marks a shift from the largely information-driven Ayush Grid to interactive digital services for citizens, researchers, students and practitioner.

The new tools include MAISP Chatbot for citizen information, the ARP Research Assistant for navigating Ayush research literature, and the eLMS Chatbot for managing student-related services in Ayush institutions. The e-CHARAK Chatbot focuses on medicinal-plant trade, while Yoga Saarthi offers AI-based yoga recommendations. Nivesh Saarthi, helps investors explore opportunities in the Ayush sector.

The ministry’s AI push has also gained international visibility. An Ayurveda use case titled “AI-driven Decision Support for Ayurveda: A Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Approach” was included in the AI Impact Casebook on Health, developed with the World Health Organization and showcased at the IndiaAI Impact Summit 2026.

Beyond chatbots, the ministry is exploring more ambitious applications. Through the IndiaAI Innovation Challenge, proposed use cases include voice-enabled electronic health records, disease-trend detection and personalised treatment-support systems. The objective is to use AI to generate clinical insights and improve patient-centred care across Ayurveda and other Ayush systems.

The initiative comes amid growing global interest in applying AI to traditional medicine. A technical brief released by WHO, ITU and WIPO in July 2025 examined AI’s potential in traditional medicine while stressing responsible, evidence-based and culturally appropriate deployment.

The Ministry of Ayush is also working with IndiaAI and Digital India Bhashini to expand language access. Ayush Grid portals are now available in 22 scheduled Indian languages, while ministry datasets and resources have been placed on AI Kosh.

The larger ambition is clear: technology is being positioned not as a substitute for Ayurveda, but as a digital layer to make its knowledge more accessible, searchable and evidence-oriented

Reference: Press Information Bureau