Google Expands AI Initiatives in India: Healthcare, Sustainability, and Agriculture in Focus

Google licenses AI model to Indian firms for early detection of diabetic blindness

Google has licensed its AI model to Forus Health and AuroLab in India to help detect preventable blindness at early stages among diabetic patients. With new partnerships in India and Thailand, Google aims to facilitate 6 million free AI screenings for diabetic retinopathy in underserved communities over the next decade. The AI model, which underwent early research and development in India, has already supported more than 600,000 screenings in clinics worldwide. "Each of these partners will own, operate, deploy, and maintain the AI model, and will work with local regulatory bodies to secure the necessary approvals to scale the program at a population level," said Sunny Virmani, Group Product Manager for Health AI Research at Google. In addition to healthcare, Google is driving sustainability with its CircularNet model, an open-source machine-learning computer vision model designed to sort waste by identifying materials. The model assesses the quality and quantity of waste before sorting, baling, and sending it to recycling centers. In a pilot of CircularNet's AI model at its material recycling facility, Bengaluru-based Saahas Zero Waste reported 85% accuracy in detecting plastic waste. In agriculture, Google has opened access to developers for its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API, which uses satellite imagery to identify fields, water bodies, and vegetation boundaries. "The ALU API, developed through collaborations between Google's AnthroKrishi team, researchers, and state and union governments across India, demonstrates our commitment to empowering India's agricultural ecosystem," said Alok Talekar, Engineering Lead at Google DeepMind India. "This technology is designed to equip the ecosystem with tools to tackle rising productivity challenges alongside climate threats with targeted interventions," Talekar added. Google DeepMind's India unit is also spearheading Project Vaani, a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and ARTPARK (Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park). The Indic language AI project aims to cover 125 Indian languages and dialects to build an inclusive and equitable Indic AI. The project's first phase has created an open-source database of over 14,000 hours of speech data across 58 languages, collected from 80,000 speakers in 80 districts, said Manish Gupta, Director of Google DeepMind, Google India. First announced in December 2022, Project Vaani plans to collect and transcribe 154,000 hours of anonymized speech data from all 773 districts in India. Gupta noted that phase two is underway, covering 160 districts across all states.

Google Licences AI Model To Detect Blindness Among Diabetics

Google's India DeepMind unit will also helm Project Vaani in collaboration with IISc and ARTPARK to build an "inclusive and equitable" Indic AI Big tech major Google said it has licensed its artificial intelligence (AI) model to two Indian companies, Forus Health and AuroLab, to help detect preventable early-stage blindness among diabetic patients. In a blog post, Google said that the partnership will enable the two companies to support nearly 60 Lakh AI-assisted screenings for diabetic retinopathy in resource-constrained communities in India over the next 10 years. Commenting on the collaboration, Forus Health founder and CEO K Chandrasekhar said, "Forus Health is thrilled to partner with Google to bring AI-powered diabetic retinopathy screening to the forefront of eye care by leveraging our innovative retinal cameras and platform. We are confident of impacting millions of lives and fulfil our mission of eliminating preventable blindness". As per Economic Times, group product manager for health AI research at Google, Sunny Virmani, said that the two partners will individually own, operate, deploy, and maintain the AI model. He added that the two Indian startups will work with local regulatory bodies to secure the necessary approvals to scale the program at a population level. Meanwhile, the big tech giant also said that it will open up access to its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API for Indian developers. In the blog, Google said that the API will allow agritech startups to develop precision agriculture tools that provide tailored advice to farmers based on their unique field conditions. Announced at I/O Connect in Bengaluru earlier this year, ALU Research API leverages remote sensing data and AI to gather insights at individual farm level. It uses high-resolution satellite imagery and advanced machine learning models to organise agri-data such as identifying fields, water bodies and vegetation boundaries and their acreage. "We are now opening up access to the ALU API for developers. This will enable support to stakeholders across the agri ecosystem in their respective efforts: from helping public sector agencies improve the accuracy of land records, to agri-input companies optimising the distribution of resources like seeds and fertilisers," Google added. As per the big tech major, the API will help startups and stakeholders optimise resource allocation, improve agricultural practices and make more data-driven and efficient decisions in the agriculture sector. On top of this, Google, as per ET, also said that its India DeepMind unit will helm Project Vaani in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and ARTPARK (Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park).

How AI is making eyesight-saving care more accessible in resource-constrained settings

Nearly a decade ago, teams from Google Research and our foundational research partners including Aravind Eye Hospital in India and Rajavithi Hospital in Thailand began exploring how AI could help reduce preventable blindness caused by eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy. Our goal was to help doctors reach more patients who lack access to screening, so we set out to investigate whether AI could identify diabetic retinopathy, a treatable but leading and growing cause of preventable blindness. Many people with the condition don't get the regular screenings and prompt care they need, so we developed an AI model to help detect this complication. To date, the model has supported more than 600,000 screenings in clinics around the world. We've spent the last several years exploring how to increase AI adoption into real-world clinical settings. And now, we're licensing our diabetic retinopathy model to partners in order to bring this tool to communities across India and Thailand -- two countries with a significant shortage of eye specialists. Our hope is that this will help improve outcomes for millions more diabetic patients who are most at-risk. Globally, at least 537 million adults are estimated to be living with diabetes. In the Asia Pacific region alone, there are nearly 227 million people living with the condition. Nearly half of people with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy, which can happen when diabetes impairs the blood vessels that nourish the eye's retina. Over time, this damage may lead to blindness. Early detection and timely medical intervention can help preserve their eyesight, so regular screening is key. However, due to limited healthcare specialists in many parts of the world, many people go undiagnosed and untreated, ultimately jeopardizing their vision. Developing an AI model to help clinicians detect diabetic retinopathy is one step toward a potential solution. But for population-scale impact, we need to identify ways to expand diabetic retinopathy screening on a large scale. That's why we're taking this next step of partnering with healthcare providers and health-tech partners Forus Health, AuroLab and Perceptra. These partners will work toward securing local regulatory approvals to bring the model into clinical care systems across India and Thailand. Over the next 10 years, these partners will aim to deliver a combined 6 million AI-supported screenings to resource-constrained communities at no cost to patients. We've also been working with the Thai Ministry of Public Health's Department of Medical Services (DMS), which is responsible for the country's diabetic retinopathy screening program, on implementation research and cost-effectiveness analysis. This collaboration is bringing our AI into Thailand's National Innovation program and will pave the way for a partnership between Perceptra and DMS to apply the diabetic retinopathy AI model in public sector hospitals and help deliver impact at population scale. "It seems to be just yesterday when Rajavithi Hospital and Google started collaborating on research for bringing AI to Thailand's national diabetic retinopathy screening programs," said Dr. Paisan Ruamviboonsuk, Retinal Specialist and Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology, Rajavithi Hospital in Thailand. "Seven years later, we're grateful to bring this technology to Thai patients with diabetes but also Thailand's public health system as a whole." We continue to see AI's transformational potential in healthcare, especially in early disease prevention, detection and diagnosis. And by sharing our models, we aim to support others in building valuable medical AI tools that advance care and improve health outcomes for communities around the world.

Google Announces AI Collaborations For Healthcare, Sustainability, and Agriculture in India

"At Google, we're not just building AI but shaping a future where AI benefits everyone," said Dr. Manish Gupta. Google has unveiled new AI focussed partnerships in India to boost healthcare, sustainability, and agriculture. The tech giant's latest collaborations include a project with Forus Health and AuroLab to expand diabetic retinopathy screenings, a partnership with Saahas Zero Waste to support India's circular economy, and the release of its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) API to developers. These announcements follow the 10th edition of Google for India event, emphasising the company's commitment to making AI impactful across the country. "At Google, we're not just building AI but shaping a future where AI benefits everyone," said Dr. Manish Gupta, research director of Google DeepMind, speaking at the roundtable at Google's Research lab in Bangalore. He highlighted Google's focus on areas such as language understanding, healthcare, and sustainability to address India's challenges, emphasising how AI is poised to solve some of society's biggest issues. For healthcare, Google has partnered with Forus Health and AuroLab in India and Perceptra in Thailand to provide 6 million no-cost diabetic retinopathy screenings over the next decade. This initiative aims to prevent blindness by assisting with early detection of the condition, particularly in underserved communities. Sunny Virmani, Group Product Manager for Health AI Research at Google, expressed Google's commitment to using AI to eradicate preventable blindness. "We're expanding our efforts with partners like Forus Health, AuroLab, and Perceptra to ensure that timely intervention reaches even remote communities," said Virmani. K. Chandrasekhar, CEO of Forus Health, and Mr. R.D. Sriram, Managing Director of AuroLabs, praised the partnership for bringing AI-powered eye care to the forefront. "We're confident of impacting millions of lives," said Chandrasekhar. In sustainability, Google is collaborating with Saahas Zero Waste (SZW) to use its AI model CircularNet for waste management. CircularNet, trained on global datasets, is helping to improve plastic waste sorting and recycling efficiency. In a pilot, SZW saw an 85% accuracy rate in plastic waste detection, predicting a 10-12% improvement in revenue from higher-quality recyclable materials. "We believe in AI's power to build a more sustainable future," said Sujit Sanjeev, Lead for CircularNet at Google. Arun Murugesh of SZW added, "Google's CircularNet is playing a crucial role in improving resource recovery and supporting India's circular economy." Google has also opened access to its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API, which combines satellite imagery with AI to provide insights at the farm level. The API aims to help India's agricultural sector with data-driven decision-making, optimising farm management, and addressing productivity challenges. Alok Talekar, Engineering Lead at Google DeepMind India, noted that this API, developed in collaboration with Indian researchers and government agencies, could help mitigate the pressures faced by the agricultural sector. "The ALU API, developed through collaborations between Google's AnthroKrishi team and researchers and state and union governments across India, reflects our commitment to empowering India's agriculture ecosystem." These partnerships reflect Google's ongoing commitment to harnessing AI for social good in India, with future collaborations expected to further expand the role of AI in driving sustainable growth and innovation across sectors.