Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella emphasized the company’s substantial investment in India’s AI talent pool, particularly through Microsoft Copilot, during his current visit to the country. Highlighting tools like Shiksha Copilot, designed to streamline educational processes and enhance student engagement, Nadella underscored their impact.
Shiksha Copilot, a component of Project VeLLM by Microsoft Research India, harnesses the capabilities of Generative AI to assist teachers, farmers, and small business owners. Built on the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Shiksha Copilot seamlessly integrates with school curriculums and learning objectives, aiming to ease the workload on teachers and enrich the learning experiences of students.
Nadella expressed optimism about the transformative potential of AI in revolutionizing education in India, emphasizing the significant reduction in time required for teachers to prepare lesson plans using the tool. Sikshana, an organization involved in the initiative, reported a substantial decrease in preparation time from over an hour to just 5 to 15 minutes, with minimal adjustments needed by teachers.
This initiative aligns with Microsoft’s broader commitment to upskill 2 million individuals in India to strengthen the country’s AI talent pool, as announced by Nadella earlier in the week. Project VeLLM aims to bridge the digital divide by utilizing Large Language Models (LLMs) to overcome barriers related to language, income, digital literacy, and information access.
During his visit, Nadella also engaged with Indian developers, reaffirming Microsoft’s dedication to empowering the country’s growing developer community. He highlighted India’s potential as a hub for AI-based product development, referencing projections that India will surpass the US to become the largest developer community on GitHub by 2027. Presently, India ranks second among the top 10 global communities contributing to generative AI projects on GitHub.
