Google, NITI Aayog Partner to Foster AI Ecosystem in India

NITI Aayog on Monday joined hands with Google to foster growth in India's nascent artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning ecosystem by working together on several initiatives in the two areas.

Under the aegis of the programme, Google will train and incubate Indian AI startups in an accelerator programme. These startups will be mentored and coached by Google and its affiliates to enable them to better leverage AI in their respective business models, the NITI Aayog said in a statement.

Further, Google will also bring its online training courses on AI to students, graduates and engineers to numerous cities across India in the form of study groups and developer-run courses.

Highlighting the importance of this partnership, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said that artificial intelligence is going to disrupt the way business is done.

"India, in particular, is uniquely poised in utilising AI to innovate for social and inclusive good.

"India is embracing future technologies such as machine learning and AI to augment its capacity in healthcare, improve outcomes in education, develop innovative governance systems for our citizens and improve overall economic productivity of the nation," Kant said after the NITI Aayog and Google signed a statement of intent.

Kant said the partnership will unlock massive training initiatives, support startups and encourage AI research through PhD scholarships, "all of which contributes to the larger idea of a technologically-empowered new India".

Under the programme, NITI Aayog and Google will organise an AI and machine learning hackathon focused on solving key challenges within agriculture, education, healthcare, financial inclusion, transportation and mobility.

The NITI Aayog has been entrusted by the government to set up a national programme to conduct research and development in frontier technologies such as AI.