Google has unveiled a series of significant initiatives aimed at boosting AI development in India, with plans to train 10,000 startups in artificial intelligence through a partnership with MeitY Startup Hub. This effort is part of Google’s broader strategy to democratise AI and support the thriving startup ecosystem in India.
At the Google I/O Connect Bengaluru 2024 event, the tech giant highlighted its commitment to fostering AI innovation in India by focusing on three key areas: multimodal, multilingual, and mobile AI. Google claims that the Gemini AI models are at the heart of this initiative. These models are now available to more than 1.5 million developers globally, with a significant number of users based in India.
Training 10,000 Startups with MeitY Startup Hub In collaboration with the MeitY Startup Hub, Google will train 10,000 startups to harness the power of AI. This includes providing up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits to eligible startups, enabling them to invest in the necessary cloud infrastructure and computational power. Additionally, Google is offering AI-first programming and curriculum through programs like Startup School and Appscale Academy, which aims to equip startups with the skills and knowledge required to thrive in the AI landscape.
AI Innovation Programs Google is also launching several AI innovation programs tailored for Indian startups. These include a nationwide Gen AI Hackathon, a 3-month immersive experience in partnership with MeitY Startup Hub and Startup India, and the Solve for India Startup Bootcamp | AI Edition. These initiatives aim to help startups address real-world challenges in areas such as healthcare, climate change, agriculture, and cybersecurity using AI.
Access to AI Models The tech giant is expanding access to its AI models. The Gemini 1.5 Pro model, which offers an enlarged context window for processing vast amounts of data, is now available to all developers in India. Additionally, Google has introduced Gemma 2, an updated version of its open models that includes significant performance and safety enhancements. These models are particularly useful for developing multilingual solutions that cater to India’s diverse languages.
Project Vaani and Language Diversity Through Project Vaani, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Google plans to capture the diversity of India’s spoken languages. The project has already collected 14,000 hours of speech data across 58 languages. To further support developers, Google is introducing IndicGenBench, a benchmark for Indian languages, and open-sourcing the CALM framework, allowing for the creation of more powerful and nuanced language models.
Mobile AI On the mobile front, Google has introduced the Matformer framework, designed to optimise AI models for high performance and low resource consumption on mobile devices. This will enhance on-device AI capabilities, making AI experiences faster and more accurate on users' phones.
AI in Agriculture In the agricultural sector, Google is launching the Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API. This tool aims to make farming more data-driven and efficient by providing landscape insights at the farm field level, leveraging AI and remote sensing technologies.
Streamlining Software Development To streamline software development, Google announced new updates, including Firebase AI Monitoring, new integrations for Project IDX, and AI Safety tools. Additionally, Google introduced AI agents to enhance development workflows.
New APIs and Pricing for Indian Developers Google is also rolling out new Google Wallet APIs to simplify the integration of loyalty programs, tickets, and gift cards. For developers using Google Maps Platform, Google is introducing India-specific pricing, reducing costs by up to 70 per cent on most APIs, and offering up to 90 per cent off for those building on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).