Google DeepMind’s Dr. Manish Gupta on Thursday made a compelling appeal for increased investment in artificial intelligence (AI) research in India during an event in Bengaluru.
Addressing a gathering of entrepreneurs, developers and AI professionals at the Google Cloud Startup Summit, Dr. Gupta spoke on India's potential to become a global leader in AI while stressing the need for greater focus on research to elevate the country’s AI landscape.
“We really see India to be poised to become a true leader in AI. One of the things that we think we need to do more to take it to an even higher level is invest more in AI research,” said Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director, Research, Google DeepMind.
Dr. Gupta mentioned that Google is working to advance AI research in India, particularly through Google DeepMind’s dedicated efforts to address unique regional challenges. He encouraged the startups and attendees to partner with AI researchers actively.
“We are doing that a lot at our own lab, our Google DeepMind in India, and we see academia doing that a lot. We work a lot with academia, but I, again, encourage you to work with AI researchers at the forefront of AI research to again, incorporate the latest innovations right into your solutions,” he said.
India has placed tenth globally for private investment in artificial intelligence (AI), attracting USD 1.4 billion, according to Bond Capital data. The United States led the rankings, securing over USD 67 billion in AI investments
Google’s Language AI Initiatives
As part of its vision to make AI inclusive and accessible, Google has been working in language technology, aiming to bridge linguistic gaps and make digital information available in every Indian language.
“As we think about how do we really democratise access to information for everyone… for every person—a farmer’s daughter… neighbour’s son in Assam… to really let them access information in their native language,” Dr. Gupta explained.
Dr. Gupta discussed how Google’s products, like Google Translate, now support 28 Indian languages, with advancements made this year. A breakthrough version of Google’s language model, PaLM 2, has enabled Translate to expand its reach, recently adding 110 new languages, including seven Indian languages.
Google’s AI models, Gemini and Gemma, are also being optimised to better understand Indian languages, with a focus on closing the performance gap between English and native Indian languages.
In collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Google has also undertaken a large-scale project to gather voice data from across India to make digital resources available for underrepresented languages. The initiative has reportedly yielded 14,500 hours of speech data across 59 languages, covering diverse dialects and accents from 80 districts.
This apparently includes 15 “zero-purpose” languages—languages that previously lacked any digital data. Dr. Gupta said, “Through that project, we hope to ultimately create data for all of them and make it freely available to all of you.”
Collaboration With Niramai
In his address, Dr. Gupta also mentioned how AI could also be harnessed to drive meaningful scientific and health advancements. He pointed to Google’s collaboration with Niramai, a Bengaluru-based healthtech startup that uses AI for non-invasive breast cancer screening. Describing Niramai’s approach, he shared, “Niramai is today using AI models on thermal imaging…you can actually detect tumors well before mammography can.”
Niramai’s technology offers advantages such as being non-invasive, X-ray-free, and effective even for younger women with dense breast tissue, addressing limitations of traditional mammography.
Dr. Gupta praised Niramai's success as a model for how AI could revolutionise healthcare in India.
A 2024 report from Nasscom projects that India's AI market could expand to between USD 17 billion and USD 22 billion by 2027. The space is expected to draw USD 4 billion in investments, positioning India as the third-largest AI talent hub globally, with an estimated 1.25 million to 1.35 million professionals skilled in AI
He concluded by urging the Indian startup community to prioritise responsible AI development, encouraging them to align with a larger mission of societal impact. “Please make sure that you are building and deploying AI responsibly,” he said.
