Hyderabad, Sep 5 (IANS): With ambitious plans to lead the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across departments, the Telangana government on Thursday said that it has set the target of delivering AI-driven services to more than one crore citizens and enhancing the productivity of government employees by more than 20 per cent by 2027.
AI technologies will be embedded into core government operations to boost service efficiency, it said, adding the government will enhance its operations and services through AI, enable AI support in policy-making, and integrate AI solutions in welfare delivery schemes. The goal has been set in the strategy document and implementation roadmap unveiled at Global AI Summit 2024, which began here on Thursday.
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy released the roadmap titled 'AI-powered Telangana' at the inaugural ceremony of the two-day event.
According to the document, generative AI will be leveraged to power interventions aimed at solving the most critical governance challenges across domains including education, healthcare, agriculture, and service delivery.
The government will work closely with the private ecosystem to fuel impact-oriented innovations and subsequently invest in solutions that have been proven successful through pilots. The strategic direction for Telangana’s AI ecosystem will be set by the AI Advisory Council, which will bring together leaders from government, industry, and academia and define investment and policy priorities surrounding AI. The AI Research & Collaboration Network, operating through a hub and spoke model, will power socially conscious innovations in AI by converging research and development in academic institutions and corporations.
The government intends to promote the development of datasets and models that allow AI to account for state-specific nuances including language and culture. In addition to improved dataset quality across the state, data annotation hubs will be established to cater to the annotation needs of not just the state but the country at large.
To fuel AI innovation sustainably and democratically, Telangana will facilitate access to compute capacity through hyperscalers. Government departments and selected early-stage startups will be provided subsidised access to compute capacity to level the playing field for innovation, specifically for socially conscious solutions.
The government will launch the Telangana Data Exchange Platform (TGDex), enabling access to quality data for innovators in the ecosystem and fueling AI-powered innovation through a collaborative approach. All demographic groups within Telangana will be empowered with AI and generative AI-powered solutions to improve their quality of living.
To cater to the growing demand for AI professionals in the job market, the state will train 5 lakh professionals in AI specialisations by 2027 through a mix of formal education and digital initiatives. AI curriculum will be introduced in senior secondary public schools to democratise access to AI skills and careers from an early age.
In his remarks on the occasion, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy termed AI the greatest of technology innovations and disruptions.
"When any new technology comes, it brings both hope and fear. Hope of how it will make our life better. Fear of job losses, disruption."
He said the Telangana AI Mission, or T-AIM, in partnership with NASSCOM, will help the state government implement the AI framework in Telangana.
“We will continue to bring government and industry experts together to drive innovation,” he said.
Minister for Information Technology and Industry D. Sridhar Babu said the state would prepare an AI framework that is Innovative and also ethically sound so that AI serves a greater goal while safeguarding individual rights and societal values He said the state would invite AI experts from across the globe to shape policies and involve academia and industry and will also crowdsource ideas and solutions.
"We will implement stringent regulations to prevent misuse of AI technology like deepfakes and AI-driven misinformation," he said.