Google is expanding its artificial intelligence initiatives in India across agriculture, education and small-business development, with projects ranging from crop research to teacher training and support for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The initiatives include an open-access genetic atlas for sorghum, AI-powered farmer advisories and funding from Google.org to develop tools that improve small businesses’ access to credit and markets.
“Whether it is solving foundational genomic questions to protect food systems, giving teachers more time to mentor students, or helping local businesses scale, AI is most impactful when it is built in partnership with the people who need it most,” Google’s Preeti Lobana and Google DeepMind’s Lila Ibrahim said in a joint blog post.
Google DeepMind and Google.org are working with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and the University of Washington to develop an open-access genetic atlas of sorghum. The project aims to help researchers identify plant traits and accelerate the development of climate-resilient crops.
ICRISAT’s genebank holds more than 44,000 seed varieties from over 90 countries. Google DeepMind will also fund a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at ICRISAT to develop genome-characterisation tools for pulses, including chickpea, groundnut and pigeon pea.
Google’s Agricultural Understanding models now provide insights across 11 countries and are available to developers in public preview. Amnex has integrated Google’s agricultural AI APIs into Gujarat’s Krushi Pragati platform, which delivered more than 900 million SMS-based advisories to over 6,00,000 farmers in the state during the past year. The advisories cover crop and soil health, pest and disease management, and weather patterns.
In education, Google said it has trained more than 80,000 educators since May through its Google AI Educator Series. The programme helps teachers use Gemini and NotebookLM to prepare lesson plans and learning materials. Google is expanding the initiative through partnerships in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim, as well as with the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Moreover, Google.org is providing $15 million to The/Nudge to develop AI tools for MSMEs, focusing on access to formal credit, market discovery and regulatory compliance. The initiative will also include a multilingual, voice-led platform to help people in smaller towns develop job-ready skills and connect with small businesses.
“The momentum we are seeing in translating science into real societal impact is just the beginning,” Lobana and Ibrahim noted.
