Telangana govt officially declares 2020 as AI year, signs 8 Memoranda of Understanding

Minister of IT of Telangana KT Rama Rao on Thursday officially declared 2020 as the year of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and signed eight Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with various companies and educational institutes to pave way for upcoming technological advancement in the state. As per sources, a roundtable was organised in Hyderabad on December 18 to formulate AI-specific incentives and Telangana’s AI strategy framework document. 

"In line with our vision and our approach, AI will be our focus for the coming year and beyond. While we are calling 2020 as the Year of AI, this event today will set in motion a set of initiatives, which will potentially make the next decade as Telangana's decade of AI. Telangana is ready to capture the global AI opportunity," said Minister KT Rama Rao in a statement.

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Memoranda of Understanding (MoU)

The MoUs were signed in the presence of Rao and other stakeholders of the AI ecosystem, including academicians, industry leaders, local and national startups, said a representative from the Norwegian Embassy.

"Artificial Intelligence can address complex problems beyond the capability of traditional methods and AI holds significance for the government for its potential to transform citizens' lives," the minister said. Rao also lauded Telangana as a pioneer in IT and innovation, saying that the state is quick to adapt to the needs of the rapidly transforming AI industry. "In line with the national strategy, Telangana has decided to take on a focused approach for AI and take it to the next level, setting an example for other states to follow suit," he added.

The minister further apprised the aim of the state to democratise availability of data by creating population-scale curated public data sets.

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Getting youngsters skilled in data sciences

NASSCOM President has said that the IT industry body has been proactively preparing a list of new job roles that are being created in the emerging technology space and would be interested in partnering with the state government on the open-date initiative. The IT industry body is also partnering with the government to get the youngsters skilled in data sciences, according to the Minister's office.

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(With Inputs from ANI)