Microsoft To Invest $50 Billion in India by End of Decade, Says Brad Smith
Microsoft aims to expand AI across Global South with infra skilling push
New Delhi: Confirming the mega investment in AI space in India, which was announced by the company on Wednesday, Microsoft vice-chairman and president Brad Smith on Thursday said that India is one of the largest investment destinations for Microsoft as the company will invest $50 billion by the end of this decade. The aim of the company is to expand artificial intelligence (AI) across the Global South," Smith said.
"There is a need to harness private capital, investments from tech companies, and government funding to generate demand for the use of AI in the Global South. Also, there is a need to bring infrastructure to Global South, and that includes data centres in computing, more connectivity and electricity," he added.
The Global South, however, refers to nations that are either newly industrialised or developing. “That is going to take not only the world’s best technology. It’s going to require an enormous amount of investment. That’s why we at Microsoft announced on Wednesday.
The vice chairman further said that India, not surprisingly, is one of the largest investment destinations where investments, infrastructure, skilling and addressing real-world problems are some of the key requirements to bridge the technology gaps. “When you study the history of technology, infrastructure is not only hardware, not only wires and grids, it is skilling for people. Because the key to enabling a country's population to use a general-purpose technology at scale is to give people, the country access to the skills,” he said.
Smith also said that there is also a need to make AI work effectively for the Global South, and that requires some special initiatives. “We need to make AI as effective in every language as it is in English,” he said, adding, “we need to use AI in the Global South to solve the problems that matter to the global South”.
He also said that the use of artificial intelligence opens up a myriad of opportunities. “We have to put AI to work in ways that will bring faster benefits to countries in most of the world. AI is also the next great generator for human curiosity. Each of these AI summits is a proud moment for a great nation. But we have an opportunity and we need to build bridges between these summits. So, we need to define clear goals," Smith said.