Google’s Sundar Pichai, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on leveraging AI & Taking UPI to the World

In the last eight years, the digital India vision has really taken us to a level where we have an absolutely scalable and very successful India stack, and that India stack helped us manage something as big as the pandemic using the Coven platform every time I come. the sophistication of the Indian startup ecosystem, you know, is improving considerably. India was ranked number one in AI talent concentration. Part of what we have done with the India Digitization Fund is increasingly focused on our investments in Indian startups, like the clans we have. announced a $300 million fund with one focus: a quarter of the fund will go to female-led startups or startups that focus on bridging the gender gap.

We will take the startup ecosystem to tier two cities, tier three cities, there is no better time to start a startup than the current moment, although we are working in a macroeconomic moment like this. Companies like Google were created during times of recession. AI will play a very important role in India's technological history. In the future, there are multiple number of fields multiple number of areas in which AI will make a significant difference agriculture is one of those fields the diversity of languages ​​we have how do we predicate the gap between people who speak one language and the other ? affordable credit for people at the bottom of the pyramid India will also be a large export economy will benefit from an open and connected internet abroad collect a memorable experience from your IIT days at IIT kanpur we had a very good computer lab but The time that was given to each student for programming was always very, very limited, so I used to gain time from others.

I will solve other people's problems and take that. I was about to tell a story about how I used to have two rasagalas every day, but you know. Now that you talked about computers, you're right, access to computing at that time, I think it was very difficult, but it's amazing how the

world

has changed, but you know I have good memories of friends and I met my wife there. that's what I remember most about IIT, do you know how you are focusing on cyber security? quite a few priorities. In the last eight years, the digital India vision has really taken us to a level where we have an absolutely scalable and very successful India stack. that India stack helped us manage something as big as the pandemic using the coven platform that used all the horizontal constructs of the India stack.

We were able to deliver vaccines to over a billion people, actually 2.2 billion vaccine doses scheduled for that scale with all the logistics. challenges that we had well and granting the certificate instantly was a huge job and that was only possible because of the technology stack that you had, I mean, having the payment system that we have today, the UPI payment system, phenomenally successful as we speak, It is almost like that of India. 55 per cent of India's GDP transactions today take place on the UPI unit. I mean the payment platform that we have, so we will continue to build similar digital platforms for the health system and logistics for many other sectors.

That's a second part. Taking the startup ecosystem to tier two cities, tier three cities, we see a lot of talent coming from smaller cities and towns, so we would try to channelize that one third that we will focus on, which is why India has been ranked as the number one talent concentration geography for AI. Very recently, in the network readiness index, India was ranked number one in concentration of talent for AI, so we would like to channel that through a very stable and very complete legal and regulatory ecosystem, how do you see digital India playing a role? in the growth of the startup economy here in a country, you know it every time I come, you know the sophistication of the Indian startup ecosystem, you know it is improving considerably, part of what we have done with the digitization fund of the India is increasingly focused on our Investments in Indian startups are like glands and you know these companies are gaining remarkable scale, and increasingly, you know, as you heard before, we have announced a fund of 300 million dollars with the focus that a quarter of the fund will go to women-led startups or startups that focus on closing the gender gap.

I think you know the opportunity that India has a part of if you look at the USSR market. The reason startups succeed is when they build something that over 300 million people have access to. Market and it's easy to build something that can scale across the country. This has not always been the case in places like Europe or because you have to scale in 26 markets and it is difficult for a startup to achieve that scale. I think that is the opportunity that India has. Do you know how to ensure that a startup can easily scale across the Indian market?

So I think those are all ways that policies can help and we can play a role too, but you know there's no better time to start a startup than the current moment, even though we're working in a macroeconomic moment. like this, companies like Google were created in times of recession, so I think you know I'm very optimistic about that over time. What are some of the areas of AI you want to encourage across government? Therefore, AI will play a very important role. I mean a very important role in the technological history of India. In the future, there are several fields, several fields. areas where AI will make a significant difference agriculture is one of those fields the diversity of languages ​​we have how do we predicate the gap between people who speak one language and the other?

That's going to be second only to making credit accessible to people in The base of the pyramid is going to be a big task ahead where we're going to use Ai and that's going to be reflected in the success that we've already had in terms of the system. payment, the identity system and a very rapid adoption of technology. in different sectors of society and in all geographies, so we are going to use all these things and once we have our data protection bill and the telecom bill and the digital India bill in place, a robust framework will be created where we can use some of the data sets that are available public data sets and then use them and leverage the power of technology to provide better solutions, better services and our focus is always to see that The rich can always take care of themselves, our focus is always on the middle class. and the poorer sections of society, as a government, we are very interested in ensuring that all marginalized sections of society can reap the benefits of technology in the same way that some of us, those of us who are better, end up, I mean on a similar level. of the benefits of the technology that they should also be able to get, so we will focus on multiple sectors of AI, as well as different sectors of society, which area of ​​AI has the impact.

You know, the impact of AI is what you're most excited about right now. You know, I mean. I think it will affect all sectors over time, but for us we go to our mission, you know, people come to Google to search for information, so what I'm most excited about is how we can use AI in that service of that mission , one of our keys. Parts of our mission is to make Google universally accessible and useful. You know, we are increasingly using AI to increase the number of languages ​​we can offer. You know, we recently added nine new Indian languages.

Assamese bhojpuri konkani. Etc., we are now working on a powerful AI model that can bring information in thousands of languages ​​so we can use all of that to make sure it is available to more people, but over time I think the biggest change is that as humans , we look at the

world

around us and listen. You see what happens with your eyes and that's how you consume information, so being able to bring everything that we call this multimodal, you know, and bring that view when you ask a question to Google and then get that rich answer is what I believe. that AI will end up playing a role, whether you know to show an image or you look at something and say, tell me about this.

You know we want to provide all of those as experiences to our users and I think AI will end up playing a role. powerful role and I am very excited about that, what do you envision the private sector playing in delivering India's stack to other emerging economies to help them unlock their economic potential, especially when it comes to digital public infrastructure in terms of payments and healthcare ? So the interest in the Indian stack is present all over the world, so it is a unique way to see the development of technology and bring it to society. A multiple number of small, small, small constructions that together can create a big solution.

We believe that in All this development of India, the role of private sector is very, very important because the government is providing the platform on top of this platform. Any startup, any private sector entity, large, small, medium, any size, can join and create their own company. Own solutions that meet your requirements, so for example payment is a very good solution. I am referring to a very good example, the payment system from a very small initial payment company to a large established bank like State Bank of India. The same platform that the government has provided, so our thought process is that we provide the platform and the private sector starts using that platform to build new solutions, so I think not only in emerging economies but also in the very advanced and well developed economies, people are also showing There is a lot of interest in it, we have a lot of interest in the payments system itself with about 30 countries at the moment and the private sector will play a very important role, let's say someone wants have a similar identity system in, say, France, a digital identity system. right so that our companies can go there work with their governments work with their public institutions work with their regulatory systems and over a very long period develop a reliable solution for other countries if Sunder has to ask you this, you know, we grew up in an India where We were very happy because we imported from the world, but increasingly we live in an India that exports to the world and we are really very proud of the Made in India label.

I want to ask you how you see this trend. And how do you see this incredible opportunity continuing and moving forward? The

minister

spoke about the depth and breadth of talent available in the country. In our experience, we see it developing at Google. You know, we saw the opportunity besides UPI. In fact, I used it. the example above in other countries around the world. I believe you are aware of the fact that you can tell the way covert relief funds appear instantly in an individual's accounts. It's notable and you know we built Google Pay in India based on the UPI stack and we are now bringing that to other countries around the world.

There are many more examples of this. You know, we used artificial intelligence technology to develop flood forecasts for India and then for Bangladesh. I mean, this is an alert that is sent to 23 million people every year. now we are

taking

it to many more countries around the world so I think you will see this trend grow over time and, you know, with the scale of the market here you can find a solution and in many cases in India you can LeapFrog . and get to the next solution faster, so I think it will be a great incentive for us to do it here and then take it to other countries that are sometimes slower to go through these phases, so I see this trend as something that will increase over time. time What are some of the areas that are important to you?

How do you see this emerging in the future? In my opinion, humanity has created institutions and structures throughout its existence, however many thousands of years it has existed and with every change in technology, every great quantum leap that occurs in the way we live. , new challenges arise and we have to find ways and means to create a very balanced way of absorbing technology because technology brings with it many new opportunities. it also brings with it many new challenges and in today's world where information is ubiquitous in India, the cost of data is very low and the adaptation of technology is so fast in this kind of scenario, how do we create a legal structure and regulatory framework that is in tune with times that matches the needs of India, that is built around our realities, so that is the way we are working and the prime

minister

has given us a very clear objective of creating a framework comprehensive legal regulatory, so we are creating three horizontal ones.First, the Telecom Bill, which is for the The second operator is the Digital Protection Bill which focuses on enforcing the privacy rights of citizens and the third is the Digital India Bill which It will analyze practically everything else that needs to be seen.

These are the three horizontal ones above which there will be multiple small ones. modular regulations focused on sectors, so it is a very comprehensive outlook, we should be able to complete this exercise in the next 14 to 16 months, the two bills that have been put out for consultation should be complete by July and August, they should be approved by Parliament and we have a very open consultation process with all stakeholders. The RT teams are giving time, my ministerial colleagues and I, both, I mean, we are all spending a lot of time in consultations to understand what the concerns of the people so netnet is the solution what is emerging is really good and most of the people who have interacted with us so far have shown that they have expressed that this type of workforce is necessary in many other economies that are rapidly digitalizing .

Thanks, so you're looking at the big picture. Google's take on India's tech regulations. I think you'll know if you look at the scale at which technology is working and is so touchingly touching the lives of people you know around the world, it makes sense to me that you know that technology needs responsible regulation. I think it's important for countries to think about how to better safeguard their citizens, whether it's privacy. security and I think it is an important phase and you know, we are participating constructively. I think India has a leadership role to play here, again, given the scale and technological leadership it will have, and it's important to make sure. you're balancing, you know, and putting safeguards in place for the people you're creating.

An innovative framework for companies to be able to innovate, you know, as well as a certainty, uh, in the legal framework, so I think it's an important moment in time, but I hope that through all of this. India can also be a voice for India will also be a large export economy that will benefit from an open and connected Internet and I think getting that balance right, I think it will be important if both of you were to give advice to the next generation that is entering the space , the technology space, what would you say? I would say think on a population scale, think on a global scale because all the constructs, all the building blocks that are needed to create a large scale solution.

They are available today, so don't think small, think Bank, no. I definitely agree with that, you know, I would also say that for young people technology is much broader than just programming or just engineering. I think technology needs to work at scale, including things like artificial intelligence. you know, thinking about the surrounding areas, whether it's politics, you know, whether it's ethics, you know, so just thinking about technology holistically, I think we're going to create opportunities for a lot more people, so you know more people. They can participate in all areas of life, I think. Technology will be better for society.

Thank you very much Minister for

taking

our time to be here. I always say it shows commitment to being involved in technology and the startup economy. Thanks for taking our time and Sundar. thank you very much for inspiring us all thank you very much