Google Unveils AI Innovations and Developer Support at I/O Connect Bengaluru

Google I/O Connect Bengaluru: Check out the latest highlights

Google announced that it will be heavily discounting its commercial mapping service, Google Maps Platform APIs, for developers in India, during its developer conference, Google I/O Connect in Bengaluru. The company also announced its collaboration with the Government of India through Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Startup Hub and Google DeepMind's tools for agricultural development. Further, Google revealed that it will be extending its advanced AI models Gemini 1.5 and Gemma 2 in India. Here is everything Google launched: Google has offered significantly discounted prices to developers in India using Google Maps Platform. Additionally, it has offered a major discount to developers building for ONDC using select Google Maps Platform APIs. While it has not specified the reason for these major change in prices, it is likely motivated by Ola providing a year's worth of free access to its own mapping API, Ola Maps, to developers using Krutrim. Ola co-founder Bhavish Agarwal has also urged developers to divest from Google Maps specifically and avail Indian services. Google will be also collaborating with the MeitY's StartUp Hub initiative that aims to support and develop AI in India. The company has committed to providing select AI startups with Google Cloud credits to invest in the cloud infrastructure and computational power and provide knowledge access with programs that have a AI-first programming and curriculum. It will also host a nationwide Gen AI Hackathon and Solve for India Startup Bootcamp | AI Edition , by partnering with MeitY Startup Hub and Startup India. Google will also launch a tool designed to make agricultural practices more data-driven, called Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API. The tool leverages AI and remote sensing to map individual farms and provide insights into the landscape. Google has partnered with the Government of India, IIT Bombay Ninjacart, Skymet, Team-Up to build this product. It is built on Google Cloud in collaboration with the Anthro Krishi team and India's digital AgriStack. Google will also be launching a comprehensive benchmark designed specifically for Indian languages called IndicGenBench. The tool allows developers to evaluate the performance of a model and fine-tune it accordingly. IndicGenBench covers 29 languages. Further, Google also plans to bring to India, its framework that allows developers to combine their specialized language models with Gemma models, called our CALM (Composition of Language Models). Google said that the tool will enable developers to cater to specific use cases and linguistic variations. For instance, if a developer is building a coding assistant in English, by composing with a Kannada specialist model in CALM, they may be able to offer coding assistance in Kannada as well Google will also be launching Phase 2 of its project aimed at collecting a dataset of diverse speech across India. Project Vaani, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science will be expanding to cover all states in India spanning 160 districts. The open-sourced dataset will boost development of technologies such as automatic speech recognition (ASR), speech to speech translation (SST), and natural language understanding (NLU), in a way that caters to as many Indians as possible. Bringing Google's new AI models and products to India. New products come to India The 2 million token context window on Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2 is now available to all developers in India. Gemini 1.5 Pro is Google's most advanced model. The company announced that it would be giving developers access to the 2 million context window, in June this year. Gemma 2 was announced at Google I/O 2024 in California. The model's performance "comparable to Llama 3 70B at less than half the size", said Google. The model was developed to be accessible, cost-effective and customizable for users. Google Wallet APIs is also available in India now. Resources for developers Google DeepMind team in India has pioneered a framework that will allow for more accurate AI experiences on phones. The Matformer framework allows developers to "mix and match" different sized Gemini models within a single framework. This framework aims to allow high powered models like Gemini to function while consuming fewer resources. Google also shared updates for software development products like products like Project IDX and Firebase AI . Further, it launched an an AI Agent that helps with open source project maintainence called Project Oscar. The Project is a reference for developers to create more agents that can assist with building AI. The conference also displayed 3 AI startups that leverage Gemini to create their products. These included an education AI robot, agri-technology AI platform and a "digital work platform" that allows participants to build datasets for wages. Also Read: STAY ON TOP OF TECH NEWS: Our daily newsletter with the top story of the day from MediaNama, delivered to your inbox before 9 AM. Click here to sign up today!

Google I/O Connect | Updates on developer centric project; tie-up with MeitY

Google on Wednesday announced a host of developer-centric updates along with news around its Gemini and Gemma AI models at its I/O Connect event in Bengaluru. Google DeepMind's India team also revealed multiple initiatives including Project Vaani, a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science which will focus on capturing over 14,000 hours of speech data across 58 languages, collected from 80,000 speakers in 80 districts for developers. The team has developed IndicGenBench under the project, a benchmark developers can use to evaluate the capabilities of large language models based on indic languages. Additionally, they have also open-sourced a mix of specialised LLMs with Google's lightweight Gemma AI models, called the Composition of Language Models framework or CALM. India's developer relations lead Karthik Padmanabhan announced the company will be partnering with the India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to support 10,000 Indian generative AI startups. They will be offered Google Cloud credits, an updated startup program curriculum to equip founders with the necessary skills required to develop AI. Additionally, Google will also host an annual nationwide GenAI Hackathon and AI Startup Bootcamp. Google also confirmed that developers in India will finally be able to access the expanded context window with up to 2 million parameters on the latest Gemini 1.5 Pro model and Gemma 2. (For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today's Cache) For developers on the Google Maps Platform, the company has introduced a specific pricing with up to 70 percent lower costs on most APIs. Google's Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold updates Google has also partnered with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) to offer developers building on the platform up to 90 percent on select Google Maps Platform APIs. A limited availability tool called the Agricultural Landscape Understanding or ALU Research API will be launched soon with the aim to make agricultural practices more data-driven and efficient. "India is at the forefront of the AI revolution, as you can see from the innovation that Indian companies are pioneering. From consumer experiences to agriculture to social enterprises, AI has the power to address some of the biggest challenges of our time across many sectors and industries," said Seshu Ajjarapu, Senior Director, Google DeepMind. Meanwhile, Project Oscar, an AI agent, has been designed to help open-source developers keep track of their latest projects. The AI agent will be initially made for Go, which has more than 2,000 contributors currently and over 93,000 commits i.e., changes made to files. Padmanabhan added that Project Oscar can also be adapted to support other open-source projects. Read Comments

Google unveils plans for Indian developers and start-ups at Bengaluru I/O connect

At Google I/O Connect, the company unveiled a range of tools, programs, and partnerships for Indian developers and start-ups. Google shared it is working with MeitY Startup Hub to train 10,000 start-ups in AI, expanding access to its AI models like Gemini and Gemma, introducing new language tools from Google DeepMind India, and enhancing the software development process with AI-powered features, with a steadfast focus on responsible AI. According to the tech giant, today, more than 1.5 million developers globally use Gemini models across its tools. Google claims to be democratizing AI for developers by focusing on three key areas - multimodal, multilingual, and mobile. The company is reportedly supporting start-ups in their AI journeys through Google Cloud credits, AI-first programming curriculum, among other initiatives. Also read: Google brings Gemini on mobile app for Indians Developers can access Google's AI models with the 2 million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, the next generation of open models. Ambharish Kenghe, Vice President, Google, said, "We have been investing in AI for over a decade, driving fundamental advancements that have led us to the exciting Gemini era. AI is a powerful enabler and a major inflection point that will require us to continuously reimagine what's possible." "We're committed to empowering Indian innovators to harness AI's full potential, creating solutions that not only address India's unique needs but also shape the future of AI globally." Google is introducing Google Wallet APIs to simplify the integration of loyalty programs, tickets, and gift cards. For developers using Google Maps Platform, India-specific pricing is being introduced with up to 70 per cent lower costs on most APIs. Also read: Google will not claim ownership of AI-generated content Google is also collaborating with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), offering developers building for ONDC up to 90 per cent off on select Google Maps Platform APIs. "With leading enterprises, the Indian government also plays a key role in cloud, and generative AI. They have taken this up as a mandate driving citizen services or even core functions like finance, defence, etc. This is now an integral part of their planning and executions. Enterprises, governments, start-ups, developers all use our solutions," Subram Natarajan, Director of Customer Engineering, Google Cloud, told businessline. Stating that over 70 per cent of unicorns use Google Cloud solutions, the brand added that companies like Airtel, Apollo 24/7, and Mahindra Rise are among those building Gen AI apps on Google cloud. Chen Goldberg, GM & VP, Cloud Runtimes, said, "We are investing a lot in our software supply chain. With hackers and vulnerabilities, we are helping our customers ensure everything they build or from code is being deployed. We have offered our customers the same process my team building Google products uses. There is a wide portfolio - from confidential computing to key management, and control our customers have over their data." SHARE Copy linkEmailFacebookTwitterTelegramLinkedInWhatsAppRedditPublished on July 17, 2024

Google launches latest AI models, tools, and programs: Aims to fuel AI innovation in India

Google also plans to develop AI innovation programs through nationwide Gen AI Hackathon During the Google I/O Connect Bengaluru 2024 event today, Google introduced a range of tools, programs, and partnerships to empower Indian developers and startups. Google plans to keep India at the forefront of the global AI revolution. Google said that it will be working with MeitY Startup Hub to train 10,000 startups in AI. It also plans to expand access to its AI models like Gemini and Gemma, introducing new language tools from Google DeepMind India. It also plans to enhance the software development process with AI-powered features, with a steadfast focus on responsible AI. Google to fuel AI market in India Google claimed that it will be supporting eligible AI startups with up to $350,000 in Google Cloud credits. With this it plans to invest in the cloud infrastructure and computational power essential for AI development and deployment. Additionally, Google will introduce AI-first programming and curriculum through existing programs like Startup School and Appscale Academy. This is to help startups with the skills, knowledge, and mentorship needed to thrive in the AI landscape. Google also plans to develop AI innovation programs through nationwide Gen AI Hackathon, a 3-month immersive experience in partnership with MeitY Startup Hub and Startup India, and the Solve for India Startup Bootcamp AI Edition. This initiative aims to support early-stage startups tackling challenges across healthcare, climate change, agriculture, cybersecurity, and digital public infrastructure (DPI) using AI. Other highlights Furthermore, it is believed that AI is transforming the very fundamentals of software development - including how developers think about what's possible and how they build it. "At Google, we believe all developers are AI developers, and we want to make it as easy as possible for them to build with AI across surfaces, be it web, mobile, or cloud," Jeanine Banks, Vice President and General Manager, Developer X, Google, concluded. Google also announced some other AI developments around different sectors. These includes:

Google unveils latest AI technologies to support Indian developers

The Google DeepMind India team shared updates to empower developers building language solutions for India. Tech giant Google on Wednesday unveiled a range of tools, programmes, and partnerships aimed at empowering Indian developers and startups to lead the global AI revolution. At the Google I/O Connect Bengaluru 2024 event, the company announced its collaboration with the MeitY Startup Hub to train 10,000 startups in AI, expanding access to its AI models like Gemini and Gemma. Google is also introducing new language tools from Google DeepMind India and enhancing the software development process with AI-powered features, maintaining a steadfast focus on responsible AI.

Google rolls out a host of new features for AI developers

Google LLC today announced a host of new, developer-focused updates at its I/O Connect Bengaluru event in India today, including a new integration between Project IDX and Android Studio, so developers can build their apps using a web browser on any device. It also introduced Firebase AI Monitoring, a new dashboard that shows real-time insights into generative artificial intelligence performance and behavior, and Project Oscar, an AI-agent for maintaining open-source software projects. In a blog post, Google India's developer relations lead Karthik Padmanabhan pointed out that India's community of 4 million developers is at the forefront of AI development today, applying the technology to a wide range of problems, particularly those related to language. Google intends to provide them with all of the resources they need to aid in those efforts. For instance, the Google DeepMind India team today revealed a new initiative called Project Vaani, which is a collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science that aims to capture the diversity of the hundreds of spoken languages in that country. The project led to the creation of IndicGenBench, which is a benchmark developers can use to evaluate the capabilities of large language models trained on indic languages. In addition, it has also open-sourced the Composition of Language Models framework, known as CALM, which is for developers who want to combine specialized LLMs with Google's Gemma models. In the latest update to Project IDX, online integrated development environment based on Visual Studio Code, Padmanabhan said the company is launching an early preview of Android Studio on Project IDX that can run in any browser. In doing this, developers can quickly fire up a development workspace that runs entirely in their web browser, enabling them to get started with coding, building and testing native Android applications on any device and in any location. As for Firebase, Google's mobile and web application development platform, it's being improved with the introduction of support for the Go programming language in alpha test mode. The idea is to simplify the development of more efficient and scalable Go-based apps by bringing them into the more intuitive Firebase platform, Google explained. With the preview of the Firebase AI Monitoring dashboard, developers will be able to monitor the performance of their LLMs and the features they support, in production. The dashboard will provide alerts on how those features are being used, their behavior, as well as any inaccuracies and inconsistencies, Padmanabhan said. Meanwhile, Project Oscar is designed to help open-source project maintainers to keep tabs on the latest status of the projects they run. Padmanabhan pointed out that maintaining open-source projects can be a lot of work, with some of the most popular attracting thousands of contributors who publish hundreds of new commits on a daily basis. Project Oscar is a reference for an AI Agent that can keep track of all these updates, and is initially targeted at Go, which currently has more than 2,000 contributors and over 93,000 commits. However, Project Oscar can easily be adapted to support other open-source projects, Padmanabhan said. The Flutter software development kit for creating application user interfaces is also getting a dose of generative AI. The new AI Generated UI feature is able to dynamically compose and personalize UI elements based on natural language inputs, and is launching in early access preview today, the company said. Finally, Padmanabhan announced that it's partnering with the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to support 10,000 Indian generative AI startups. The support extends to Google Cloud credits, and an updated startup program curriculum to equip founders with the skills and knowledge they need to develop with AI. In addition, Google will also host an annual nationwide hackathon contest to identify India's next generation of AI innovators.

Google to empower 10,000 Indian startups in AI, unveils new tools - ET Telecom

Bengaluru: Google on Wednesday said it is working with MeitY 'Startup Hub' to train 10,000 startups in artificial intelligence (AI), as the tech giant expanded access to its AI models and introduced new language tools for the developers in the country. At its 'I/O Connect' event here, the company unveiled a range of tools, programmes and partnerships to empower Indian developers and startups to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution. The company said that developers in India now have expanded access to Google's powerful AI models with the two million token context window in Gemini 1.5 Pro and Gemma 2, the next generation of open models. "We're committed to empowering Indian innovators to harness AI's full potential, creating solutions that not only address India's unique needs but also shape the future of AI globally," said Ambharish Kenghe, Vice President, Google. The opportunities with multimodal, mobile, and multilingual AI are immense, and we're thrilled to be a part of India's AI journey, he added. "The fastest way to build with Gemini is through its developer platform Google AI Studio, and India has one of the largest developer bases on Google AI Studio today," said the company. The Google DeepMind India team has expanded Project Vaani, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), which provides developers with over 14,000 hours of speech data across 58 languages, collected from 80,000 speakers in 80 districts. The team also introduced IndicGenBench, a comprehensive benchmark to evaluate the generation capabilities of LLMs on Indic languages, and open-sourced CALM (Composition of Language Models). The company said it is introducing Google Wallet APIs to simplify the integration of loyalty programs, tickets, and gift cards. For developers using the Google Maps Platform, India-specific pricing is being introduced with up to 70 per cent lower costs on most APIs. Google is also collaborating with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), offering developers building for ONDC up to 90 per cent off on select Google Maps Platform APIs. "From consumer experiences to agriculture, to social enterprises, AI has the power to address some of the biggest challenges of our time across many sectors and industries," said Seshu Ajjarapu, Senior Director, Google DeepMind. The company will also soon launch the Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) Research API, a limited availability tool designed to make agricultural practices more data-driven and efficient.

Google I/O Connect Bengaluru 2024: Support to Indian startups, expanded access to AI models and 3 other key things announced - Times of India

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