UP unveils AI push, to train 1 mn people monthly with Google, Microsoft

State to invest ₹10,700 crore in AI City project

Uttar Pradesh will partner with technology giants Microsoft, Intel, and Google to train each month nearly a million people, including teachers, farmers and the youth, in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), data analytics, and cybersecurity, said a senior government officer.

 

It is drafting an AI Policy under the ‘Vision 2047’ programme to use AI in education, agriculture, security, health care, and align governance with the evolving technology.

 

“We are looking to train 150,000 people each month with industry-ready certifications as part of the AI Pragya programme,” said the officer.

 

The state has said it will invest more than ₹10,700 crore to develop India’s first ‘AI City’ on the outskirts of Lucknow.

 

The proposed AI ecosystem will comprise 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), multimodal large language models (MLLM), and an AI innovation centre.

 

An AI-based smart traffic management system is being implemented in Varanasi while a similar system is proposed for Lucknow, he added.

 

UP’s AI road map will align with the national IndiaAI Mission, which was approved in March 2024. 

 

IndiaAI Mission aims to foster AI innovation by democratising computing access, enhancing data quality, developing indigenous AI capabilities, enabling industry collaboration, providing startup risk capital, ensuring socially impactful AI projects, and promoting ethical AI.

 

While top IT companies including TCS and HCL are already present in Lucknow, global IT player IBM is also setting up a software lab in the capital city for AI-based applications for global clients.

 

Moreover, Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd is setting up its first AI-Hub Data Centre project in Lucknow.

 

Under the UP Data Centre Policy 2021, the state government is eyeing private investment worth ₹30,000 crore with the setting up of eight private data centre parks with a 900 megawatt (mw) capacity.

 

Meanwhile, through AI bootcamps, UP officials from 30 departments have been trained to deploy AI in government processes.

 

To make the Direct Benefit Transfer system accurate and transparent, AI-based fraud detection and data analytics have been introduced in UP.

 

Under the UP Agris Project, launched with World Bank support and an investment of ₹4,000 crore, one million farmers are being connected to AI-based technologies such as smart irrigation, drone mapping, pest detection, and digital market access.