Satya Nadella, currently on a visit to India, announced in his keynote that Microsoft is set to provide AI skills training to 2 million people by 2025.
“We believe that, obviously, at the end of the day, ensuring that the workforce has the skills to thrive in this new age is the most important thing any of us can be doing and we are happy to play our role in it, ” said Nadella.
Further Nadella said that it’s not just about the skills but the new jobs which get created along with generative AI. “AI tasks involve data labeling, and bringing those jobs to rural India, providing well-paying opportunities and creating economic growth. That is pretty unique,” said Nadella.
He went on to praise Karya, one of the world’s first data cooperatives that offers labeling and annotation services. “You even see that in rural India people are participating in the AI economy. Thanks to the work of organisations like Karya,” he said.
Besides Karya, he also lauded Bhashini and Agami. Agami has recently introduced a new product called Jugalbandi Studio. “Jugalbandi Studio is a no-code local tool for people to build bots and make them available to all social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and others who are making a positive impact,” said Nadella.
Further Nadella said India has more AI engineers, making the AI engineering community second only to the United States. On February 6, 2024, Nadella marked his 10th anniversary as the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft. Presently, he is in India for February 7 and February 8 to engage with AI startups.
