Google Working with MeitY Startup Hub to Empower 10,000 Indian Startups with AI

Google Unveils Latest AI Models, Tools, and Programs to Fuel Developer Innovation in India

Google today showcased its dedication to driving AI innovation in India, at the Google I/O Connect Bengaluru 2024 event. The company unveiled a range of tools, programs, and partnerships to empower Indian developers and startups to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution. Google shared that its working with MeitY Startup Hub to train 10,000 startups in AI, expanding access to its AI models like Gemini and Gemma, introducing new language tools from Google DeepMind India, and enhancing the software development process with AI-powered features, with a steadfast focus on responsible AI.

As part of its Gemini era, the company is focussed on bringing the power of multimodality to everyone, expanding the types of questions one can ask with advances in long context windows, and making AI truly helpful through its proprietary and open models, along with research advancements. Today, more than 1.5 million developers globally use Gemini models across its tools. The fastest way to build with Gemini is through its developer platform Google AI Studio, and India has one of the largest developer bases on Google AI Studio today.

Google is democratizing AI for Indian developers by focusing on three key areas with transformative potential in India: multimodal, multilingual, and mobile. The company is working with MeitY Startup Hub to support 10,000 Indian startups in their AI journeys, through Google Cloud credits, AI-first programming curriculum, and launch of a nationwide GenAI Hackathon and AI Startup Bootcamp. Developers in India now have expanded access to Google’s powerful AI models with the 2 million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, the next generation of open models.

The Google DeepMind India team shared updates to empower developers building language solutions for India. This includes the expansion of Project Vaani, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which provides developers with over 14,000 hours of speech data across 58 languages, collected from 80,000 speakers in 80 districts. The team also introduced IndicGenBench, a comprehensive benchmark to evaluate generation capabilities of LLMs on Indic languages, and open-sourced CALM (Composition of Language Models), a framework that allows developers to combine specialized language models with Gemma models. Google also introduced the MatFormer framework, enabling developers to mix and match AI models within a single framework for optimal performance and resource efficiency.

Google is introducing Google Wallet APIs to simplify the integration of loyalty programs, tickets, and gift cards. For developers using Google Maps Platform, India-specific pricing is being introduced with up to 70% lower costs on most APIs. Google is also collaborating with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), offering developers building for ONDC up to 90% off on select Google Maps Platform APIs.

Ambharish Kenghe, Vice President, Google: “At Google, we’ve been investing in AI for over a decade, driving fundamental advancements that have led us to the exciting Gemini era. AI is a powerful enabler and a major inflection point that will require us to continuously reimagine what’s possible. We’re committed to empowering Indian innovators to harness AI’s full potential, creating solutions that not only address India’s unique needs but also shape the future of AI globally. The opportunities with multimodal, mobile, and multilingual AI are immense, and we’re thrilled to be a part of India’s AI journey.”

Seshu Ajjarapu, Senior Director, Google DeepMind: “India is at the forefront of the AI revolution, as you can see from the innovation that Indian companies are pioneering. From consumer experiences, to agriculture, to social enterprises, AI has the power to address some of the biggest challenges of our time across many sectors and industries. At Google, we remain committed to helping the developers and entrepreneurs advance and deploy technology that makes a palpable difference in people’s lives.”

Jeanine Banks, Vice President and General Manager, Developer X, Google: “AI is transforming the very fundamentals of software development – including how developers think about what’s possible and how they build it. At Google, we believe all developers are AI developers, and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to build with AI across surfaces, be it web, mobile, or cloud. We’ve been thrilled and inspired by the enthusiastic embrace of our AI capabilities by India’s growing developer ecosystem, and we can’t wait to see the innovations they will pioneer with Google’s expanding AI models, tools, and app development suite announced today.”

The company will also soon launch the Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API, a limited availability tool designed to make agricultural practices more data-driven and efficient. Additionally, Google gave a glimpse into innovative AI agents aimed at streamlining workflows, with open-sourcing Project Oscar, a reference for an AI agent that helps with open source project maintenance.

Google also showcased how Indian startups are pushing forward with bold yet responsible AI solutions using Gemini, including Miko.AI, an AI-powered robot providing engaging and safe education for children, Karya, who empowers low-income communities through AI-enabled economic opportunities, and Cropin, a pioneer in agricultural technology that empowers farmers worldwide to use date-driven insights to optimize their operations and increase productivity.

Sneh Vaswani, Co-founder and CEO, Miko.AI: “Our goal is to ensure Miko Robots provide safe, reliable, and culturally appropriate interactions for children worldwide, and Gemini is key to achieving this.”

Manu Chopra, Co-founder and CEO, Karya: “With the power of Gemini, we are able to take Karya Platform global, and enable low-income communities everywhere to build truly ethical and inclusive AI.”

Krishna Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Cropin: “I am proud that we are able to build a more sustainable, food-secure future for the planet, and yes, Gemini has made it possible.”