IT, computing & emerging technologies

Answer: (d) None

UAVs come in different designs with different abilities. Fixed-wing UAVs fly like aeroplanes and need a launcher and a landing device, while hovering and vertical take-off and landing belong to multirotor and hybrid VTOL types. Drones can also run on gasoline or hydrogen fuel cells, not only batteries. So none of the three 'all types' claims is correct.

• ✗ I Fixed-wing UAVs get lift from a rigid wing like an aeroplane and need launch infrastructure and a landing device; vertical landing is a feature of multirotor and VTOL types.
• ✗ II Hovering capability is one of the ways drones differ. Multirotors hover; fixed-wing UAVs, which rely on forward flight for lift, do not.
• ✗ III Battery power is only one option. Gasoline-powered drones give longer flight times, and fuel-cell (hydrogen) UAVs also exist, so not every UAV is battery-only.

Remember · UAV types differ: multirotor and VTOL can hover and land vertically, fixed-wing cannot; power may be battery, gasoline or hydrogen fuel cell.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (c) I and III only

Statements I and III are correct; Statement II is wrong because Majorana 1 was introduced by Microsoft, not Amazon Web Services. Deep learning is a narrower technique inside machine learning, which itself sits inside artificial intelligence.

• ✓ I Microsoft announced Majorana 1 on 19 February 2025 as a quantum chip built on a new Topological Core architecture, which it expects will lead to quantum computers that can solve industrial-scale problems.
• ✗ II The chip was introduced by Microsoft (announced on 19 February 2025), not by Amazon Web Services.
• ✓ III Machine learning is a subset of AI, and deep learning, which uses neural networks with many layers, is a subset of machine learning.

Remember · Majorana 1 is Microsoft's topological quantum chip (Feb 2025); AI contains machine learning, which contains deep learning.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error

Answer: (a) I only

The Paris AI Action Summit (10-11 February 2025) was hosted by France and co-chaired by India, and it followed the summits at Bletchley Park (UK) and Seoul (Republic of Korea). It ended with a leaders' statement on inclusive and sustainable AI, but the United States and the United Kingdom are not among its signatories.

• ✓ I France hosted the summit with India as co-chair. The French Presidency describes it as building on the momentum of the two earlier summits, organised by the UK (Bletchley Park) and the Republic of Korea (Seoul).
• ✗ II The Statement's official list of signatory countries includes India, China and France, and runs from Ukraine straight to Uruguay: neither the United States nor the United Kingdom appears on it.

Remember · Paris AI Action Summit, 10-11 February 2025: France host, India co-chair, after Bletchley Park (2023) and Seoul (2024). The US and UK did not sign its statement.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). Permalink · Report an error