IT Minister D Sridhar Babu on Tuesday said that the state government is likely to formulate a policy on AI infrastructure after the completion of the Global AI Summit (GAIS) to be held on September 5 and 6.

Speaking to media persons at the curtain raiser of the GAIS organised by Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), an industry partner of the Summit, Sridhar Babu said, “After the conclusion of GAIS, we will enter a new journey where the focus will be on what sort of architecture is required to make Hyderabad a global AI capital. Many key companies have shown interest to come and partner with us.”

He asserted that the idea of hosting the summit was not limited to boosting the IT sector but over different verticals, including hospitality and defence, to shore up productivity.

“We are focusing on integrating AI in all areas for better life quality, especially agriculture, governance, industry, policy framework, and every other vertical society is consuming, such as traffic and others. Ethics are to be kept in mind as well. In the hospitality sector, we were invited to expand Global Capacity Centres (GCC). A few deals are in the pipeline, which we will hopefully sign next month. In the defence sector, we want to set up not just India-based GCCs but from the US too. During our recent visit to the US, we felt convinced that they would come too,” the IT minister said, asserting that Hyderabad will become the global AI capital.

Sridhar Babu said that while the initial investment was expected to be around Rs 4 billion, it has been increasing beyond expectations.

He stressed the need to invest in R&D of the AI in order to be self-sustainable. “We have the best coders. The time has come for the product to be developed here and exported,” he said.

The minister noted that the government’s priority is to inculcate AI in the MSME sector. “We will try to encourage them to use technologies, particularly AI. We will frame up the functioning over how it can make a difference on the ground,” Sridhar Babu said.

Meanwhile, IT department officials said that efforts are on to integrate AI in manufacturing, judiciary as well as the narcotics bureau. “Recently, the CJI enquired if AI could help in disposing of cases by developing a tool where judgment is similar in many cases. This then could be informed to lawyers to expect similar judgments,” said an official.

Sridhar Babu emphasised HYSEA’s commitment to supporting the summit and beyond, focusing on creating an industry-ready workforce with AI skills. “We plan to upskill over 10,000 students in AI/GenAI in collaboration with TASK, T-Hub, TSIC, and other key government organisations,” he said. The minister revealed that the government was mulling introducing AI in school curriculum for grades 7 and 8.

About the constant fears of AI taking over the jobs of people, he said: “The government is worried as well. But to overcome it, we are focusing on how to upskill people, which is why we thought of establishing a Skill University.”

Source: The New Indian Express