NASA scientists have acknowledged Sanskrit’s potential in coding and artificial intelligence: Delhi CM

On Sunday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra and Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh also attended the closing ceremony.

The CM’s claims echoed the long-circulated reference to a 1985 research paper titled Knowledge Representation in Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence, written by Rick Briggs, who was back then affiliated with NASA. Briggs cited in the paper ancient Sanskrit grammarians who “accomplished” a method for “paraphrasing Sanskrit in a manner that is identical not only in essence but in form with current work in Artificial Intelligence.”

“If India wants to become a Vishva Guru (world leader), then we must gain deeper knowledge through Sanskrit. This is the language that once ran our sciences, businesses, and culture,” the CM asserted.

The Chief Minister also criticised what she described as a cultural bias favouring foreign languages. “When children speak English, French or German fluently, we call them intelligent. But fluency in Sanskrit doesn’t get the same recognition. This mindset needs to change…Every state has a mother tongue, but in reality, Sanskrit is our mother tongue as every language has descended from Sanskrit,” she said, adding that Sanskrit forms the linguistic root of many Indian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam and Bengali.

Gupta said that the Delhi government has pledged support for the learning of Sanskrit, particularly in the government schools, where hundreds of Sanskrit teachers have been teaching the language. She added that these efforts will be further intensified to make the language accessible and aspirational for younger generations.