Google has launched a series of initiatives aimed at bolstering AI development in India, with a particular focus on empowering startups and developers. These initiatives are part of Google’s broader strategy to democratize AI and support India’s thriving startup ecosystem. At the Google I/O Connect Bengaluru 2024 event, Google highlighted its commitment to fostering AI innovation in India, emphasizing three key areas: multimodal, multilingual, and mobile AI.
Central to these initiatives are the Gemini AI models, now accessible to over 1.5 million developers globally, with significant usage in India. Google is expanding access to its AI models in India, making the Gemini 1.5 Pro model, which offers an enlarged context window for processing large amounts of data, available to all developers. Additionally, Google has introduced Gemma 2, an updated version of its open models, featuring significant performance and safety enhancements. These models are particularly useful for developing multilingual solutions tailored to India’s diverse linguistic landscape.
Training and Support for Startups
In collaboration with the MeitY Startup Hub, Google plans to train 10,000 startups in AI. Eligible startups will receive up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits, enabling them to invest in essential cloud infrastructure and computational resources. Furthermore, Google is offering AI-first programming and curriculum through programs like Startup School and Appscale Academy to equip startups with essential AI skills and knowledge.
AI Innovation Programs
Google is launching several AI innovation programs tailored for Indian startups. These include a nationwide Gen AI Hackathon, a three-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 assist startups in tackling real-world challenges in healthcare, climate change, agriculture, and cybersecurity using AI.
Project Vaani and Language Diversity
Through Project Vaani, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Google aims 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, facilitating the creation of more powerful and nuanced language models.
Mobile AI
Google has introduced the Matformer framework to optimize 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.
Google’s Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU)
Google is launching the Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API to make farming more data-driven and efficient. This tool provides landscape insights at the farm field level, leveraging AI and remote sensing technologies to help address issues like drought preparedness and market access.
Streamlining Software Development
Google announced new updates to streamline software development, including Firebase AI Monitoring, new integrations for Project IDX, AI Safety tools, and AI agents to enhance development workflows.
New APIs and Improved Pricing for Indian Developers
To support Indian developers, Google is rolling out new Google Wallet APIs to simplify the integration of loyalty programs, tickets, and gift cards. Additionally, Google is introducing India-specific pricing for the Google Maps Platform, reducing costs by up to 70 per cent on most APIs and offering up to 90 per cent off for developers building on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). These initiatives reflect Google’s comprehensive strategy to empower Indian innovators, enhance AI capabilities, and drive impactful solutions across various sectors.
