At Google, our mission has always been to enhance the lives of as many individuals as possible through technology. Every time someone uses technology to tackle a genuine issue—whether it’s finding answers to various questions or detecting diseases from a cough—we make progress toward fulfilling that mission. Artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling us to address challenges for individuals, economies, science, and society more swiftly than ever. However, meaningful solutions are contingent upon universal access to these tools.
As leaders convene this week for the AI Impact Summit in India, we are excited to announce new partnerships and initiatives aimed at accelerating progress worldwide. Our focus is on building essential infrastructure, enhancing connectivity and accessibility, empowering governments, advancing scientific research, facilitating skill development, and creating beneficial and safe products for everyone.
Investing in Infrastructure, Science, and Government Capacity
The foundation of this effort is robust infrastructure. Recently, we unveiled a $15 billion investment to establish fundamental AI infrastructure in India. We are also constructing subsea cables in the Pacific, Africa, and various locations worldwide. Today, we are launching the America-India Connect initiative, which will establish new strategic fiber-optic routes to enhance the reach, reliability, and resilience of digital connectivity between the U.S., India, and several locations throughout the Southern Hemisphere.
To leverage the opportunities provided by this infrastructure, it is essential to invest in individuals and organizations addressing critical challenges. Governments and public sector entities play a pivotal role in shaping the future of AI. While recent data indicates that 74% of public servants globally are using AI, only 18% believe their governments are utilizing it effectively. To bridge this gap, we are introducing several new initiatives:
Creating Opportunities and Enhancing Capacity through AI Skills Development
Equipping individuals and civil servants with AI skills empowers them to implement AI tools effectively, whether in their workplaces or communities. This initiative is crucial for unlocking AI’s potential for economic growth and global innovation. We have already trained over 100 million people in digital skills, and now we are launching some of our most ambitious skill development programs to date:
- AI Professional Certificate program: This program aims to help people worldwide learn how to apply AI at work, in collaboration with government bodies, educational institutions, and employers, including scholarships through nonprofits for broader access. In India, we are partnering with Wadhwani AI to deliver this program to students and early-career professionals.
- A transformative partnership with Karmayogi Bharat to expedite the vision of Mission Karmayogi, which aims to develop a future-ready civil service. Google Cloud is providing the secure infrastructure for the iGOT Karmayogi platform, supporting over 20 million public servants across more than 800 districts. By digitizing and categorizing legacy training resources into searchable knowledge assets, and progressively enabling content in over 18 Indian languages, this partnership promotes professional development and empowers officials to learn in their preferred language.
These efforts build on our global collaborations with governments to equip public officials, from providing AI tools to public officers in Malaysia to establishing an AI Skilling Blueprint in Africa.
Creating Useful Products for Everyone
We aim to develop AI that assists individuals in their daily lives by removing barriers and making knowledge universally accessible. We are introducing several key updates to make our tools more inclusive and secure:
- Breaking Down Language Barriers: Our new live speech-to-speech translation model eliminates language barriers by facilitating real-time translated conversations in over 70 languages, including 10 Indic languages such as Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Additionally, we offer AI-powered speaking and listening practice to help people learn new languages tailored to their skill level.
- Enhanced Search Capabilities: In the coming weeks, we will improve the model driving Search Live, our real-time voice and camera tool, allowing more people to ask questions about their surroundings in their native languages, including Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese. We are also exploring methods to extract useful information from visual searches, even when images are unclear; Lens will detect blurred images and solicit follow-up questions to enhance result accuracy.
- Personalized Learning Experiences: For students in India, we have added new self-study features and JEE Main practice tests to the Gemini app (also coming soon to AI Mode in Search), transforming exam preparation with tailored support. Both Gemini and AI Mode are expanding rapidly around the world, with India ranking among our top three countries for each.
- Enhancing Online Safety: Since launching in November, our SynthID verification feature in Gemini App has been utilized over 20 million times across multiple languages, helping users identify AI-generated images, videos, and audio from Google. In Circle to Search and Lens, we now have the capability to detect scam messages, assisting millions in avoiding fraud. Furthermore, we have published our latest Responsible AI progress report to outline our bold and responsible approach to AI development and deployment.
Achieving the full potential of AI necessitates collaboration. At Google, we are dedicated to making extraordinary capabilities accessible to all.
