Telangana set to be India's AI hub with 26 MoUs for 'AI Powered' state and artificial intelligence school curriculum

Hyderabad: Taking a cue from MIT’s Media Lab and Stanford AI Lab for advanced AI insights through which successful AI Education programmes have been implemented Telangana will introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools by rolling out AI curriculum to students between the ages of 15 and 18.

This curriculum will focus on foundational AI knowledge, preparedness for future AI careers, and an understanding of safe AI, according to the 'AI-Powered Telangana' strategy document that was released on day one of the two day Global AI Summit in Hyderabad on Thursday. INAI an Applied AI Research Centre which leads AI research and innovation at IIIT Hyderabad, has experience in AI curriculum development.

Starting in the academic year 2025-26, schools will implement the AI curriculum, which will involve the provision of comprehensive AI learning kits, curriculum enhancement, and teacher training. By 2027, Telangana aims to cover this curriculum in senior secondary schools in the state, affecting around 5,000 government educational institutions, 20,000 educators, and 5 lakh students.

The Government of Telangana also aims to equip 100pc of senior secondary schools with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) curriculum by the year 2027.

“Our generation is fortunate that we are having access to television, computers, internet and mobile phones and enjoying the technological benefits. Artificial Intelligence is the best innovation in the world of technology today. Some apprehensions and uncertainty are common when a new technology is invented. The new technology and it's impact on our lives are being analysed and a fear of losing jobs is also common. State government is committed to promote Artificial Intelligence. There is no need to suspect the government's sincerity to leverage the power of Artificial Intelligence,” said Telangana chief minister while inaugurating the Global AI Summit 2024 on Thursday.

AI City to come up in 200 acres

At the heart of Telangana's AI strategy is the establishment of the AI City, a 200-acre hub near Hyderabad, dedicated to AI research, development, and application. This project is poised to place Telangana at the epicentre of global AI innovation, offering cutting-edge compute facilities, expansive data lakes, and robust connectivity.

"This AI City will be the cradle of ground-breaking advancements, solidifying our status as a technological powerhouse. We also plan to launch an AI school in our AI city," said IT and industries minister, Duddila Sridhar Babu.

In the interim, Telangana has partnered with the World Trade Centre, Shamshabad, to provide 2 lakh square feet of world-class office space for AI-driven companies, ensuring they can commence operations swiftly while the AI City takes shape.

The minister also outlined plans to make Telangana's other districts key contributors to the state's economic growth. This initiative aligns with the state's overarching goal of becoming a USD 1 trillion economy in the near future and a USD 3 trillion economy within the next decade

Telangana signed 26 MoUs in AI

Also to enable the goals set out under ‘AI-Powered Telangana’, the Government of Telangana entered into 26 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with reputed players in the private ecosystem including academic institutions, big-tech companies, startups, and not-for-profit organizations.

These MoUs were signed across various dimensions required to make Telangana an AI Superpower in the country. The MoUs were signed majorly in seven areas that include, Compute Infrastructure, Centre of Excellence, Skilling, Impact assessment, Startup Innovation, Generative AI, Research & Collaboration, and Data Annotation.

Meta announces 2 year partnership with Telangana govt

Advancing ongoing efforts to foster innovation in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), social media giant Meta on Thursday announced a two-year partnership with the Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications (IT, E&C), Government of Telangana. The strategic partnership will empower public officials and citizens with the latest emerging technologies like AI to enhance e-governance and citizen services.

Meta will collaborate with the Government of Telangana to enable deployment of e-governance solutions leveraging Meta’s open-source Generative AI technologies including the latest Llama 3.1 model. This will be geared towards transforming various aspects of public service delivery and e-governance, along with enhancing efficiency and productivity of government departments and agencies through the use of Gen AI.

This strategic partnership is aligned with Meta's open approach to AI innovation and Telangana's digital leadership, aiming to harness the potential of AI to drive social and economic opportunities in the state, while addressing unique local needs, and paving the way for groundbreaking solutions.

Meta’s leading open-source Llama ecosystem is growing rapidly. Llama models are approaching 350 million downloads to date, which is more than 10x downloads from last year. There’s a vibrant community of developers fine-tuning Llama for their own use cases in India and globally. This includes the likes of large enterprises like AT&T, DoorDash, Goldman Sachs, Nomura, Shopify, Spotify and Zoom, besides Infosys and KPMG using Llama internally. Open source AI enables customization and fine-tuning for specific domains, ensuring sensitive information remains confidential and secure.