Google, Niti Aayog join hands for expanding India's AI ecosystem

Tech giant Google today said it has collaborated with Niti Aayog to focus on fostering growth for India's nascent artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) ecosystem.

The two parties will work together on various initiatives, including organising training for relevant government functionaries to introduce them to open source AI tools to enable more effective governance, Google said in a statement.

Besides, they will award grants and scholarships to researchers, scholars and university faculty conducting cutting-edge research in the field of AI/ML in India.

The parties will also organise AI/ML study jams for students and developers based on Google's Machine Learning Crash Course (MLCC) while a hackathon focused on using AI/ML and open data sets will also be organised aimed at solving key challenges within agriculture, education, healthcare, etc in India, the statement said.

"AI is going to disrupt the way business is done and India, in particular, is uniquely poised in utilising AI to innovate for social and inclusive good... Niti's partnership with Google will unlock massive training initiatives, support start-ups and encourage AI research through PhD scholarships, all of which contributes to the larger idea of a technologically-empowered New India," Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Aayog, said.

Rajan Anandan, Vice President (India and South East Asia) at Google, said AI will help tackle huge challenges like healthcare, environmental protection and other social and developmental problems, while also spur innovation for businesses and developers.

Under the aegis of this programme, Google will train and incubate Indian AI start-ups in an accelerator programme.

These start-ups will be mentored and coached by Google and its affiliates to enable them to better leverage AI in their respective business models.