Telangana Sharpens Focus On AI With Global Summit, Inks 26 Pacts

With Telangana doubling down on its AI strategy, the state’s IT minister Duddila Sridhar Babu said that it is looking at its AI City as the ‘cradle of ground-breaking advancements.’

He added that the government plans to launch an AI school in the AI city, the Economic Times reported. 

The minister during the Global AI Summit in Hyderabad added that the government has signed 26 memorandum of understanding (MoUs) with private players, including academic institutions, big tech companies, startups, and non-profit organisations. 

The MoU covered various areas essential for positioning Telangana as an AI superpower in India.

The key focus areas include compute infrastructure, centres of excellence, skilling, impact assessment, startup innovation, generative AI, research and collaboration and data annotation.

At the core of Telangana’s AI initiative is the creation of AI City, a 200-acre hub near Hyderabad dedicated to AI research, development, and application. 

The project aims to position Telangana as a global leader in AI innovation by offering state-of-the-art computing facilities, vast data resources, and strong connectivity.

Underlining the importance of ethical practices, the minister said that Telangana was committed to establishing a robust AI governance framework that balances innovation with ethical responsibility.

Fostering a fresh way to draft AI policy in the country, Babu spoke of crowdsourcing AI policies from global experts and the public. 

Babu also outlined the intent to include stringent regulations in the framework to prevent AI misuse, such as deep fakes and AI-driven misinformation. “We will follow Japan’s example of balancing ethical AI,” he said.

It is pertinent to note that this initiative is in alignment with the state’s broader goal of becoming a $1 Tn economy in the near future and a $3 Tn economy within the next decade.

This comes on the sidelines of social media juggernaut Meta, Nazara announcing a partnership with the Telangana government to ramp up AI technologies.

Before that, tech giants like AWS and Apple also made commitments towards investing in the state. 

This comes against the backdrop of a broader push from the centre towards India’s AI and deeptech ecosystem.

For context, in March, the Union Cabinet approved an outlay of INR 10,372 Cr for five years for the India AI Mission, aiming to foster innovation in the sector through public-private partnerships (PPPs). 

Meanwhile, India is currently home to over 100 generative AI startups. These startups have also attracted a lot of investor interest. The Indian AI startups have raised over $600 Mn in funding since 2019. Spearheading this transition are names like SarvamAI and Krutrim, which are focused on building Indic LLMs. 

However, the capital intensity nature, long gestation period and infrastructure remain the most challenging hurdle for the AI industry in India.