Karnataka Chief Minister DK Shivakumar with Google India Vice-President and Country Manager, Preeti Lobana during the inauguration of Google I/O Connect India 2026 programme, in Bengaluru on Tuesday
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Google announced new initiatives to help India’s developers, startups and enterprises embrace frontier and agentic AI to drive the next wave of innovation at Google I/O Connect India 2026 held in Bengaluru on Tuesday.The announcements include the launch of AI-powered educational tools and curriculum, ecosystem partnerships to strengthen safety in the agentic era, and expansions that support Indian companies’ compliance with localization requirements as they build with global AI models.Google also highlighted that, based on third-party evaluations, the Google Play and Android ecosystem generated Rs 5.3 lakh crore, or $60 billion, in revenue for app publishers and the wider economy in India in 2025, growing by 28 per cent from 2024.Preeti Lobana, Country Manager, Google India, said, “India’s builders are already deploying 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. Today, we are delivering just that across the board - from flexible on-premise cloud environments for highly regulated sectors, to open security protocols for developers, to localized tools for healthcare and classrooms. We want to ensure that the next wave of Indian innovation is secure, trusted, and built on locally relevant foundations.”Google DeepMindThe company announced that Google DeepMind is bringing its AI Research Foundations curriculum - a free 56-hour program that equips learners to build and fine-tune Large Language Models (LLMs), and drive high-impact AI research.Google has partnered with NASSCOM and IISc Bangalore to scale the program with institutions across India, while AVPN, a network of social investors, will work with local partners to bring it to learners under the Google.org APAC AI Opportunity Fund.Google DeepMind is also launching ATL Saathi, deepening its collaboration with the Atal Innovation Mission. ATL Saathi is a desktop web application that gives teachers a Gemini-powered assistant to help deliver the Atal Tinkering Labs’ curriculum and curate hands-on experiments for students. ATL Saathi is being rolled out to 100 schools this year, to eventually reach 10,000 schools served by the Atal Tinkering Labs program.Healthcare ApplicationMoreover, researchers at AIIMS Delhi are now leveraging Google’s multimodal MedGemma open models to develop new India-specific models for leprosy and sexual and reproductive health. These models can help patients and healthcare professionals identify and manage conditions based on images and text inputs. AIIMS will make the outcomes of all these localized clinical health models available to the Indian developer ecosystem.Dr. Manish Gupta, Senior Director for India and APAC at Google DeepMind: “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. 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.”Language SupportBuilding on its momentum to bring AI advances to even more people across India, Gemini Live now supports 25 Indian languages and dialects, including Sanskrit, Bhojpuri, and Maithili, to address India’s linguistic and cultural diversity.Third-party research found that 91 per cent of surveyed Play app developers who used Google AI said that these tools directly or indirectly helped them generate more revenue, while 76 per cent of adults said they would be interested in using AI tools to ‘vibe code’, or use natural, conversational language, to build their own apps.To further power their journeys, Google is bringing its Google Play Academy curriculum to 10,000 developers and app creators, partnering with the state governments of Rajasthan, Odisha, and Madhya Pradesh. The curriculum will help participants leverage the latest advances in agentic AI, and gain skills for building, launching, and scaling successful app and game businesses.Published on July 14, 2026
