Google has announced a series of new artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives at Google I/O Connect India, expanding its investments in AI education, healthcare, cybersecurity and language accessibility as part of its broader push to support India's AI ambitions.
Speaking at the event, Preeti Lobana, Country Manager, Google India, said India is emerging as one of the fastest-growing AI ecosystems globally.
“India's builders are already developing AI faster than almost anywhere else. As we drive the shift into the agentic era, where AI moves from answering queries to securely executing tasks, our focus is on providing the underlying infrastructure and guardrails the ecosystem needs to scale safely,” she said.
AI education initiatives
Google DeepMind has partnered with NASSCOM and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to launch a rigorous AI Research Foundations curriculum on the Google Skills platform. The programme is designed to equip students and developers with the skills required to build, fine-tune and evaluate large language models (LLMs), while supporting advanced AI research in India.
Google DeepMind also unveiled ATL Saathi, a Gemini-powered desktop application that will help teachers deliver the Atal Tinkering Labs curriculum through interactive lesson planning and hands-on AI experiments.
The app will initially be rolled out across 100 schools in 2026, with Google aiming to expand it to 10,000 schools over time.
Separately, Google announced that it will make the Google Play Academy curriculum available to more than 10,000 Indian developers. The company is collaborating with the governments of Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh to help developers build AI-powered applications and leverage agentic AI technologies.
AI for healthcare
Google also announced a new collaboration with AIIMS Delhi to develop India-specific AI models for sexual and reproductive health, as well as leprosy, using the open-source Multimodal MedGemma models.
The initiative aims to help healthcare professionals better diagnose and manage these conditions through image- and text-based AI tools. Google said the project's outcomes will also be made available to the broader Indian developer ecosystem.
Expanding cybersecurity support
In cybersecurity, Google announced that it is providing early access to Sec-Gemini v3, its specialised AI security model, to selected government agencies and enterprise customers, including Flipkart.
The AI agent is designed to help cybersecurity teams investigate incidents faster by analysing complex security data, as AI-powered cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated.
Gemini Live expands Indian language support
Google also expanded Gemini Live's language capabilities, announcing support for more than 25 Indian languages and dialects.
The update will enable users to access Gemini Live's real-time voice and vision capabilities in languages such as Marathi, Bhojpuri and Maithili, improving accessibility for a wider range of users across the country.
Dr Manish Gupta, Senior Director for India and APAC at Google DeepMind, said the true measure of AI progress lies in its real-world impact.
"The ultimate metric of AI progress isn't just model parameters, but also in the positive transformation it enables. India is championing this as it adopts AI across every tier of the economy, from local merchants to national health initiatives."
He added that Google remains committed to bringing frontier AI technologies, on-premise capabilities and safety-focused tools to India to support the country's growing AI ecosystem.
“In bringing our frontier AI, on-premise capabilities, and commitment to safety, we aim to accelerate this momentum, and look forward to the country's AI learners, educators, builders, and innovators leading India's AI ambition from the front.”
