Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks to developers and technologists in Bangalore
Executives from Microsoft and Alphabet will visit India next week to appeal to the country’s millions of programmers and help introduce artificial intelligence services in key markets.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will visit Bengaluru, the country’s technology hub, next week to speak to developers and technologists about “unearthing new opportunities with AI.” .
He will also speak to industry leaders in Mumbai about the opportunities and challenges of next-generation AI.
Separately, Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean will speak to researchers, developers, and startups in Bangalore about the next frontier of AI, and then discuss how AI can have a major impact on society. Join us for a hearth chat about India’s role.
The showdown highlights the importance of India to both companies and the broader AI sector. With over 5 million programmers, India has emerged as one of the largest pools of AI talent for startups and global businesses at a time when AI talent is often in short supply. During a visit to India last year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the country has the potential to become the world’s largest exporter of AI expertise.
Nandan Nilekani, chairman of Infosys, Asia’s second-largest technology services company, said, “Over the next five to 10 years, there will be a global shift to AI, and Indian developers will be at the center of it.” Which AI stack will prevail?” he added, referring to the various technology layers that form competing AI systems.
Both Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai grew up in India, where they studied engineering before coming to the United States for graduate school. For both, advancing AI could be career-defining. Pichai called the transition to AI “bigger than the internet,” while Nadella described it as a “Microsoft moment.”
As a sign of India’s growing influence in the AI space, Ahmed Mazari, president of Microsoft Asia, pointed to developer activity on GitHub, a developer platform owned by Microsoft. “Right now, one out of every four of his AI projects on GitHub is from India,” Mazari said in a statement. “By 2026, India will overtake the US. India is in a very unique position to enable large-scale AI adoption in domestic and international markets.”
Microsoft recently announced that it will train 100,000 developers in India on the latest AI technologies and tools. Last year, India’s technology industry trade body Nasscom counted nearly 500,000 developers specializing in AI and data science.
“It’s natural to expect more top AI companies to head to India,” said Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president at Nasscom. He said major technology services companies such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys are going full steam ahead with AI development and training hundreds of thousands of engineers. “Enterprises want to adopt AI, and developers can accelerate the transition,” she says.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)