At the 10th edition of the 'Google for India' event, Google announced two major initiatives on Thursday. The first one is a partnership with Muthoot Finance to offer gold-backed loans through GPay and the second one is the launch of its AI assistant, Gemini Live, in Hindi starting October 3, 2024. Google India MD Roma Datta Chobey, stated that 11 per cent of the world's gold is stored in India, and this new credit offering provides affordable loans with flexible usage options. Additionally, Google's AI assistant, Gemini Live, which sees significant voice interaction, will soon support Hindi and later, eight more Indian languages.
"Gemini Live is now being rolled out in Hindi, with eight more Indian languages--Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu--to follow in the coming weeks," she said. In the coming weeks, AI overview, a Gen-AI based feature in Google Search, will also be available in Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, and Tamil.
Google reveals its future plans
Marking two decades of Google in India, the big tech further revealed plans to integrate Beckn-enabled open networks with its AI model, Gemini, through an 'open-source Gemini Agent Framework'. This framework will be accessible to all Indian businesses and users, allowing them to search for and discover various listings--ranging from electronics to agricultural products--as well as job opportunities and educational courses.
Users can conduct transactions seamlessly across critical sectors such as agriculture and skill development, all via a single interface that supports voice commands in multiple languages. Additionally, Google said it is set to launch 'Gemini Flash 1. 5' in India, one of the first few globally, within the next couple of months. This upgrade will enable organisations to securely implement cloud and AI solutions, allowing them to store data and perform machine learning processing entirely within India.
Google Safety Engineering Center
Google also notified the launch of Google Safety Engineering Center in India in 2025. The technology major further announced that it has inked two long-term partnerships aimed at enhancing clean energy generation in India. These collaborations are projected to contribute 186 MW of new renewable energy capacity to the Indian grid by 2026, it said.
(With PTI inputs)
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