Google on Wednesday rolled out a comprehensive suite of initiatives to strengthen India’s digital foundation and human capital. This includes an America-India Connect initiative, creating new high-speed fibre-optic routes between the US, India, and the Southern Hemisphere, a new Google DeepMind partnership to advance AI-powered science and education in the country, and expanded workforce development efforts.
The company had earlier announced setting up of a $15-billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam.
Vizag Gateway
Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the America-India Connect initiative will create new undersea cable connections to boost digital and AI connectivity not only between India and the US but also across several locations in the southern hemisphere. The project builds on Google’s ongoing subsea cable projects across the Pacific and Africa.
A key element is the creation of a new international subsea gateway in Visakhapatnam, along with multiple subsea links connecting India to Singapore, South Africa, and Australia, plus terrestrial fibre routes linking the US and India.
“For the opportunities this initiative creates, we should also invest in skilling, which is why we are announcing our most ambitious skilling programmes here. This includes a new Google AI Professional Certificate programme to master AI in their work,” Pichai said at a Google event. The skilling programme will help students and professionals learn how to use AI tools in their everyday work and build future-ready skills.
Pichai said India is poised for an “extraordinary trajectory” in AI and emphasised the company’s commitment to partnering in the country’s AI transformation. “AI is the biggest platform shift of our lifetime,” he said, highlighting its potential to address challenges at scale, from improving healthcare diagnostics to supporting farmers with real-time alerts. In his opinion, India’s diversity, language ecosystem, and robust digital public infrastructure make it a “powerful foundation for innovation” and a blueprint for democratising AI globally.
Pichai emphasised that AI adoption must prioritise trust, safety, and inclusivity. “AI must work across languages and local contexts. It must deliver real-world benefits people can rely on. Trust grows when technology is transparent, responsible, and grounded in outcomes,” he said.
In another key development, Google DeepMind is partnering with the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) to facilitate the adoption of AI models to advance science. The company will provide access to its frontier AI for science models, including AlphaGenome, AI Co-scientist and Earth AI, in addition to supporting hackathons and community contests, and enabling training and mentorship to students, researchers, and those in the early stages of their careers.
From Classrooms to Climate
Together with Atal Tinkering Labs, which serves more than 10,000 Indian schools and 11 million students, Google DeepMind will help incorporate robotics and coding into local curricula, integrate integrate Gemini thoughtfully into teacher workflows, and build a safety guardrail AI assistant for students grounded in national curriculum standards that can act as an educational partner.
Google is also partnering with Karmayogi Bharat to scale the iGOT Karmayogi platform to support 20 million public servants across 800+ districts, and making professional development content searchable and available progressively across 18+ Indian languages. Another partnership with Wadhwani AI is designed to reach students and early-career professionals. The learning modules will be available in English and Hindi, with more Indian languages to follow.
Google also announced a centre for climate technology. Launched in collaboration with the office of the principal scientific advisor to the government, this facility will scale AI-powered climate solutions. “By collaborating with Google on the Centre for Climate Tech, we want to encourage research on climate technology to scale decarbonisation and build a future-ready workforce,” said Ajay Kumar Sood, principal scientific adviser.