The Maharashtra government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with search engine giant Google to utilise innovative and scalable Artificial Intelligence (AI)-led solutions across sectors including agriculture, healthcare, education, etc.
- Google also announced the launching of a state-of-the-art AI Centre of Excellence (CoE)at the Indian Institute of Information Technology – Nagpur (IIIT-Nagpur), Maharashtra.
- This is the First ever collaboration in India, an MoU for AI CoE, powered by Google.
Key People:
The MoU was signed at Google’s office in Pune, Maharashtra in the presence of Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra; Sanjay Gupta, Country Head and Vice President, Google India; and Nitin Kareer, Chief Secretary, Maharashtra.
About the MOU:
i.As per the MoU, Google will collaborate with the Maharashtra government by offering startups mentoring and networking opportunities.
- Experts at Google and industry leaders will mentor startups in areas like technology, product development, business strategy, and more.
ii.Google’s AI Startup program will provide eligible venture capital (VC)-funded AI startups with cloud credits, technical training, and business support to accelerate their growth.
Other Key Sectors of the MoU:
The MoU with Google spans across sectors, such as:
- Innovation;
- Entrepreneurship;
- Skill training;
- Environment;
- Town Planning; and
- Transport Planning.
Healthcare:
To increase access to healthcare through AI-enabled screening, Google will be engaging with Maharashtra to provide:
- State-of-the-art Health-related AI imaging models such as Tuberculosis (TB)-Chest X-rays and Diabetic Retinopathy.
Agriculture:
i.It is said to provide the state with its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Application Programming Interface (API).
ii.It offers in-depth insights about farmland, including field sizes, water resources using remote sensing AI/machine learning (ML) technology.
Google Renames Bard Chatbot as Gemini; Releases New Gemini Advanced and Gemini Ultra
Google renamed its free version of the generative AI chatbot Bard as Gemini and launched Gemini Advanced, the subscription tier of its powerful AI model. Gemini Advanced is a premium service (with Ultra) that uses the most powerful version of the Gemini model.
- Google launched a new Gemini app for its Android mobile operating system and also released Gemini Ultra 1.0, the largest and most capable version of Google’s AI large language models.
- Gemini will now be available in 40 languages in over 230 countries and territories.
Gemini App:
i.The Gemini app is intended to allow people to access the assistant more easily from their phones and will be available through the existing Google app on iPhones.
ii.The app can set Gemini as a user’s default assistant on Android devices, replacing Google Assistant.
Recent related News:
Google launched its largest and most capable multimodal Artificial Intelligence (AI) model, “Gemini,” which comes in 3 sizes: Gemini Ultra, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Nano.
About Google:
Chief Executive Officer (CEO-)- Sundar Pichai
Headquarters- California, United States of America
Established in- 1998
