On 5th September 2024, the two-day Telangana Global AI Summit commenced with the presence of Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy along with IT and Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu and a host of international delegates and speakers.
The two-day event was packed with engaging discussions highlighting the potential of AI to address pressing global issues.
“Telangana is embarking on a visionary journey to establish itself as a leader in the AI space,” said Telangana CM Revanth Reddy while launching the ‘AI-Powered Telangana Strategy Paper and Implementation Roadmap’ during the inauguration of the Global AI Summit. The visionary strategy paper showcases how AI will be leveraged to power interventions aimed at solving the most critical governance challenges in domains such as education, healthcare, agriculture and service delivery, affecting over a crore people.
Duddila Sridhar Babu, Minister for Information Technology, stressed that the state’s vision of becoming a global leader in AI is underpinned by a deep sense of responsibility. “We are not just focused on an AI-driven future for economic growth, but on ensuring that AI is trustworthy, transparent and aligned with ethical standards. Our aim is to democratise AI, ensuring that its benefits are equitably distributed across sectors,” he said.
Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary, ICE&T, Industries and Commerce, Government of Telangana, echoed Sridhar Babu’s sentiments. “One of the key focus points of our approach is to foster indigenous innovation. By prioritising investment in local talent, creating region-specific datasets and developing applications tailored to our unique needs, we are crafting AI solutions that are relevant and effective,” said Ranjan.
A highlight of the roadmap unveiled by the Chief Minister is the creation of an AI City, a flagship project to be developed on 200 acres near Hyderabad. The AI City will house an advisory board and state-of-the-art data centres with high-performance computing facilities.
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26 memoranda of understanding were signed
ET spotlightA total of 26 MoUs covering a variety of areas have been signed. Among the most notable partnerships, Meta, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads have signed MoUs.Meta’s open source GenAI to power e-government solutions.
- PATH and Nazara Technologies’ COEs aim to advance AI in critical and emerging sectors.
- NxtWave, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft will focus on upskilling.
- YOTTA will provide next-generation GPU-based cloud infrastructure to benefit over 250,000 students and professionals.
- Nvidia partners with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) to create an AI research lab to improve governance services.
- Partnerships with Uber, Swecha and JNTU for data annotation projects.
AI-based solutions
The summit also showcased numerous innovations from various exhibitors, including startups and students. Civil engineering students from CBIT presented an AI-powered solution for the development of Musi Riverfront, proposing the use of AI-powered drones for waste removal and monitoring. Another major innovation came from HC Robotics, which presented an AI model designed to provide surveillance of people, vehicles or objects in crowds.
Looking to the future
Futurist Peter Diamandis praised the Telangana government for its focus on morality and ethics as “something we will have to deal with a lot in the times to come.” He said, “The most important asset that India has is the intelligence of its youth. In an automated world, the mindset that we have is our greatest asset.” He said that the world is entering a 100-fold growth phase and AI, its greatest technology, is mostly free. Since GPT 5 will have PhD-level intelligence, we all need to think about the impact this will have on our lives.
Global Thought Leaders on AI
Top-notch speakers, technology leaders, and policymakers spent a lot of time discussing how AI can shape industries, improve social outcomes, and revolutionize various sectors. Sal Khan, Founder and CEO of Khan Academy, said, “What’s exciting about the times we live in is that the same things Bill Gates’ kids use can now be available to every child on the planet.” Khan spoke at the session titled “Social Good: Humanizing AI in Education.”
Dr Arun Sundararajan, Professor and Director, Stern School of Business, New York University, lauded Telangana’s AI vision and said, “It is exciting to see the Telangana government’s future strategies. AI needs to be innovative and responsible, balancing business value and societal challenges.”
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