Google wants to partner India in its AI trajectory: Google CEO Sundar Pichai

Google wants to be a partner to India across the AI stack, at an “extraordinary time of hyper progress in a pivotal technology,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, in a candid, wide-ranging virtual interview from Mountain View, California, ahead of his trip to New Delhi for the AI Impact Summit.

One of the most influential figures in AI globally, Pichai has revealed a capex plan of $185 billion in AI. He has played a pivotal role in the industry both as the company led and open-sourced important foundational research into AI about a decade ago, as well as in powering Google’s recent surge into the frontiers of AI across compute (TPUs), models (Gemini), labs (DeepMind), AI infra (data centres) and energy.

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“We are coming with a very clear message: we want to be a partner to India. I believe India is going to have an extraordinary trajectory and opportunity with AI,” Pichai said. “Our role can span the full stack- —providing the infrastructure and compute needed for this transformation, investing in the sustainable energy required to power it, offering open models and open datasets, conducting research with local partners and creating opportunities for the country’s talent base.”

The infrastructure plans are wide-ranging. “We are partnering with Reliance Jio to build a cloud region. We’re working with energy providers across the ecosystem, including renewable energy projects such as a 150 MW project in Rajasthan, and partnerships with companies like Adani Group and CleanMax,” he said. “Beyond infrastructure, we are building real AI products and solutions for Indian consumers and businesses.”

Google, initially perceived as an AI laggard, has famously sped up to the forefront.