India-Built AI Tools Using Google Models Gain Global Traction

New Delhi: Artificial intelligence tools developed in India using Google’s AI models are finding widespread adoption across global markets, particularly in Southeast Asia, underscoring India’s growing role in applied AI innovation, a senior Google DeepMind executive said on Tuesday.

Manish Gupta, senior director at Google DeepMind, said several AI solutions first built and deployed in India spanning healthcare, agriculture, language technologies and weather forecasting are now being used internationally.

“Our agricultural models, first launched in India, have now been deployed in multiple Southeast Asian countries,” Gupta said. “The diabetic retinopathy solution was developed in India first, and our weather, agriculture and language models are seeing adoption well beyond Indian borders.”

The remarks came as Google announced $8 million in funding to support government-backed AI Centres of Excellence, including a $2 million allocation for AI research excellence, reinforcing its long-term commitment to India’s AI ecosystem.

Gupta said India has made notable strides in building real-world AI applications, driven by the use of small language models, open-source platforms and domain-specific datasets. However, he cautioned that industry-led research and development spending in India remains significantly lower than global benchmarks, posing challenges for long-term leadership in foundational AI research.

“India has done well in applied AI, but industry R&D spending is still very small,” Gupta said. “To become a global AI leader, the country must invest more deeply in foundational research.”

Push for Indian Languages and Open Data

A major focus of Google’s India AI efforts has been on language inclusion. Gupta highlighted Project Vaani, a collaborative initiative with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the AI and Robotics Technology Park, which has digitised speech data across 110 Indian languages.

The project aims to collect diverse speech samples from 143 districts nationwide, creating open datasets that can power next-generation language models for Indian users.

In addition, Google announced a $2 million contribution to establish a Digital Data Research Hub at IIT Bombay, designed to advance research in data-driven AI technologies.

Google is also leveraging its Gemini AI model to support Indian startups building core AI solutions, particularly in Indian language processing, healthcare, agriculture and climate applications.

Gupta said the success of India-built AI tools globally demonstrates the country’s potential as a hub for applied AI innovation, but stressed that sustained leadership will require stronger collaboration between industry, academia and government especially in funding original research. Artificial intelligence tools developed in India using Google’s AI models are finding widespread adoption across global markets, particularly in Southeast Asia, underscoring India’s growing role in applied AI innovation, a senior Google DeepMind executive said on Tuesday.

Manish Gupta, senior director at Google DeepMind, said several AI solutions first built and deployed in India spanning healthcare, agriculture, language technologies and weather forecasting are now being used internationally.

“Our agricultural models, first launched in India, have now been deployed in multiple Southeast Asian countries,” Gupta said. “The diabetic retinopathy solution was developed in India first, and our weather, agriculture and language models are seeing adoption well beyond Indian borders.”

The remarks came as Google announced $8 million in funding to support government-backed AI Centres of Excellence, including a $2 million allocation for AI research excellence, reinforcing its long-term commitment to India’s AI ecosystem.

Gupta said India has made notable strides in building real-world AI applications, driven by the use of small language models, open-source platforms and domain-specific datasets. However, he cautioned that industry-led research and development spending in India remains significantly lower than global benchmarks, posing challenges for long-term leadership in foundational AI research.

“India has done well in applied AI, but industry R&D spending is still very small,” Gupta said. “To become a global AI leader, the country must invest more deeply in foundational research.”

Push for Indian Languages and Open Data

A major focus of Google’s India AI efforts has been on language inclusion. Gupta highlighted Project Vaani, a collaborative initiative with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the AI and Robotics Technology Park, which has digitised speech data across 110 Indian languages.

The project aims to collect diverse speech samples from 143 districts nationwide, creating open datasets that can power next-generation language models for Indian users.

In addition, Google announced a $2 million contribution to establish a Digital Data Research Hub at IIT Bombay, designed to advance research in data-driven AI technologies.

Google is also leveraging its Gemini AI model to support Indian startups building core AI solutions, particularly in Indian language processing, healthcare, agriculture and climate applications.

Gupta said the success of India-built AI tools globally demonstrates the country’s potential as a hub for applied AI innovation, but stressed that sustained leadership will require stronger collaboration between industry, academia and government especially in funding original research.