Google Ties Up With MeitY To train 10,000 Startups In AI, Introduces New Developer Tools

Google has tied up with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's Startup Hub to train 10,000 startups in AI, expanding access to its AI models. It has also introduced a range of tools, programmes, and partnerships to aid Indian developers.

For startups, Google is 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. The announcements were made at Google’s flagship event, I/O Connect, in Bengaluru. 

Google notes that 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.

In a bid to democratise AI for Indian developers, Google is focusing on three key areas with transformative potential in India—multimodal, multilingual, and mobile. The company is supporting Indian startups in their AI journeys through Google Cloud credits, AI-first programming curriculum, and the launch of a nationwide GenAI Hackathon and AI Startup Bootcamp. 

Developers in India will also now have expanded access to Google's AI models with the 2 million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2. 

“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,” said Ambharish Kenghe, vice president of Google. 

The Google DeepMind India team is also expanding Project Vaani in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, which provides developers with over 14,000 hours of speech data across 58 languages, collected from 80,000 speakers in 80 districts. 

It has also introduced IndicGenBench, a benchmark to evaluate the generation capabilities of LLMs on Indic languages, and open-sourced CALM (Composition of Language Models), a framework that allows developers to combine specialised 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 also introducing Google Wallet APIs to simplify the integration of loyalty programmes, tickets, and gift cards. For developers using the 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, offering developers building for ONDC up to 90% off on select Google Maps Platform APIs.