Microsoft India announced on Wednesday to establish 10 new Artificial Intelligence Labs across the universities in the country along with training 5 lakh youth and skill over 10000 developers over the next three years.
“We believe AI will enable Indian businesses and more for India’s progress, especially in education, skilling, healthcare, and agriculture. Microsoft also believes that it is imperative to build higher awareness and capabilities on security, privacy, trust, and accountability. The power of AI is just beginning to be realized and can be a game-changer for India,” said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.
To achieve this target, said Microsoft, it has already partnered with 715 entities to implement a comprehensive AI strategy.
According to the tweet, NITI Aayog and Microsoft India have collaborated to build AI and data sciences capacity in India and upscale the youth. Under the initiative, Microsoft had said that it would use AI to develop and adopt local language computing and teach a “workforce through education”.
Microsoft has also planned to establish Microsoft India AI Professional Certificate program for developers, academic institutions and students across the country to help skill/reskill them in the areas of AI and data sciences.
They also announced an ‘Intelligent Cloud Hub program’ in India. The three-year collaborative program aims to empower STEM (science, technology, engineering mathematics), medical management and research institutes to skill students in AI and cloud technologies.
“We are also an active participant along with CII in looking at building solution frameworks for application in AI across areas such as Education, skills, health, and agriculture,” states Microsoft India in an official release.
India is one of the first countries to have such a programme in which Microsoft will support selected institutes that have the best-in-class infrastructure, curriculum, and content, onsite training for faculty and students, access for participating students to Cloud and AI services, development tools and developer support.
In April 2018, the company announced the Microsoft Professional Programme (MPP) for the public. This programme is helping in providing job-ready skills along with real-world experience to engineers as well as others who plan on improving their skills in AI and data science, using a series of online courses.