Key cities in Uttar Pradesh set to get an artificial intelligence makeover

The Uttar Pradesh government has rolled out its plan to develop major cities as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Technology (IT) hubs.

The move follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call from the US last month that there have been path-breaking advances in AI and that India and the US are leading the developments. The cities lined up for the AI- and IT-based makeover include Lucknow, Kanpur, Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida), Varanasi, and Prayagraj (Allahabad).

Meanwhile, Lucknow has been positioned as India’s first ‘AI City’ under the overarching blueprint to catalyse the five cities as future hubs of IT and IT Enabled Services (ITeS). UP Industrial Develop­ment Minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’ said technology and tech leadership would shape the future world and UP had taken a giant leap to be a major hub of AI, both nationally and globally.

“AI leadership means leadership of the world and our ‘double engine’ government is turbocharged to lead the tech revolution in the world,” he told Business Standard.

The proposed AI and IT sector development in these five cities is aimed at catalysing the journey of UP to become a trillion-dollar economy.

Recently, officials briefed Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about a detailed road map. The CM has tasked a high-level team headed by the chief secretary to take steps to immediately implement the proposal.

A 40-acre land near the Lucknow airport and flanking the Lucknow-Kanpur highway has been identified to lead the AI City landscaping. The Lucknow AI hub project will provide an entire value chain to investors and companies comprising AI start-ups, data centre, data analytics, AI-based training, and data forensics, etc.

UP has partnered leading entities, such as Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, Indian Institute of Manage­ment-Lucknow, and APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, for a slew of knowledge-based initiatives and projects.