Supporting any move towards creating a regulatory framework for big tech firms in general, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in particular, Google India managing director Roma Datta Chobey on Thursday said that the process should involve open dialogues with multiple stakeholders so that innovation thrives.
In an interaction with Fe, Datta said that technological innovations thrive in an open regulatory environment, and the company is always in dialogue with government and industry partners to ensure that all stakeholders benefit. “At the end we believe that what’s good for India, is good for Google,” she said.
Datta cited the example of the government’s AI mission, where Google is actively participating at all levels – from creating platforms to expanding in vernacular and regional languages. She said that Google is working on three main pillars. First, leveraging AI to democratise information as well as opportunity for individuals. Second, investing in infrastructure and scaling the AI engine in a sustainable manner, and third, driving progress for the future by skilling and training the workforce.
For instance, through its AI Skills House programme, the tech major will train 10 million Indians on AI with courses in English and Hindi initially, over the next few years. “There will be a variety of courses including AI essentials like introduction to large language models and different AI formats, etc,” Datta said.
Google’s generative AI platform Gemini now supports Hindi also, and will soon be accessible in eight more Indian languages. The company on Thursday also announced its AI Overviews feature, which currently supports English and Hindi, and will soon be giving AI generated answers for search queries in Bengali, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil in the coming weeks.
Datta said that alongwith coming out with cutting edge technology products and platforms, Google is also working towards addressing online safety and security concerns of users. Towards this end, it will launch its Google Safety Engineering Centre next year. “This will be the fourth global centre, which will work on online safety of users, businesses, and the public sector. There will be a lot of work on the research and development on safety which will involve academia and experts,” Datta said.
She said that Google has prevented scams worth Rs 13,000 crore in the last one year, and displayed over 41 million warnings about fraudulent transactions to protect Indians from fraud.
Datta denied charges of monopolistic behaviour by Google in its in-app billing business. “Google Play has played a very integral role in the startup ecosystem and we will continue to that…For us, when we host these apps on Play, there are user interface and user experience audits that happen. We have to ensure security of the system, and there are a lot of developer tools to make apps better. All of this incur costs and we need to make our business viable,” she said. Regarding dispute with some players, she said talks are on and a solution will be found.
Google’s in-app charges range between 15-30% – 15% for revenues up to $1 million and 30% beyond it. In the case of third-party billing, the commission reduces by 4%, thus ranging between 11-26%. Homegrown developers are opposed to these charges levied by Google.
In March, the tech giant had removed apps of some companies from its Play Store over non-payment of commission charges for in-app purchases. Later, after the government’s intervention the company reinstated the apps, but continues to raise invoices till the time a solution is found.
“There have been some disconnects. We are talking to the developers and engaging with the government. Active conversations are happening. We are very hopeful that very soon we will find solutions which are acceptable,” Datta said, adding that Indian developers earn over Rs 4,000 crore annually through Google Play.
On Thursday, Google also introduced new features for Google Maps, including the real-time alerts for low visibility areas due to fog and flooded roads. The decision follows a reduction of up to 70% in maps pricing for developers, especially as the space heats up with competition from Mappls and new entrant Ola Maps.
“Competition is good for us because we can improve our products accordingly and users also have choices. Our endeavour has always been to make technology accessible and affordable to people with high quality. And as time progresses, technology keeps getting affordable,” Datta said.
With regard to local manufacturing of Pixel phones, Datta said the first phone was shipped out in August. The volumes are low currently, but will be scaled up gradually.
Besides selling on online channels, the company has also looped in Croma and Reliance Digital to sell Pixel phones in the country, Datta said. The company has three service centres in the country.