"We at Google believe that AI is a force for good, although it's still in a very nascent stage. When we build for AI, Google India’s vision will be, first and foremost, that it is doing good for society," said Roma Datta Chobey, Google’s new managing director for India, according to an ET report. Reportedly, in a conversation, the new Google India MD also discussed how the decision to host Google's GenAI model locally will aid businesses, the company's investment strategy in India, and regulations on AI.
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Talking about the focus area of Google India, Roma stated that the emphasis is on making technology accessible, comprehensible, and even affordable.
Hosting Google's Gemini model in India
Roma noted that the decision to host Google's Gemini model in India was primarily driven by the increasing importance of data residency, particularly in sectors like healthcare and financial services, where data protection is critical.
By having the model and data in India, Google aims to provide assurance to users about data security and emphasise India's significance as a market.
"It gives people more assurance to know that the data is here. It also shows that India is a very important market for us, and we are solving issues in a focused way for India," the report quoted Roma as saying.
AI regulation in India
Regarding AI regulation in India, she said, "AI is too important not to be regulated, and not to be regulated well. It's a very general-purpose technology that can be used for a vast range of use cases, and how we build these regulations, principle-based and incorporating the nuances, will be very important."
There are ongoing discussions involving multiple stakeholders, including the government, tech companies, and academia, focusing on creating principle-based regulations that recognise the nuances of AI.
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India Digitisation Fund
On the USD 10 billion India digitisation fund, Google aims to enhance India's digitisation over the next decade, with a significant focus on AI. This includes investments in various sectors such as agriculture and health.
"There's also some amount of growing focus on the deep tech side of things because that will become more important with AI coming in, including how you can translate that into robotics for various purposes, across healthcare, space tech and so on," Roma was quoted as saying.
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Google's AI strategy in India
Regarding Google's AI strategy in India, Roma noted, "We at Google believe that AI is a force for good. It's still at a very nascent stage. When we build for AI, Google India’s vision will be, first and foremost, that it is doing good for society."
"The third is safety, because today AI is part of everyday life; it impacts all of us in our personal and professional lives. We look at leveraging AI to improve the lives of every Indian - that's a very ambitious goal – not us alone, but partnering with the government, for public services, where AI can play a huge role in access. We want to solve for businesses of all sizes, that’s important for our economy. We are also focusing on critical sectors like health and agriculture and will look at other sectors where we want to build. We must do it responsibly, sustainably and inclusively," Google's new managing director for India concluded, according to the report.
