The decision, which comes after a meeting with top government officials, marks a new phase in the easing of internet blockades that have restricted access to major global platforms for some time.
CPGRAMS -- an online platform available to citizens 24x7 to lodge their grievances to public authorities on service delivery -- has existed for close to two decades. But it has never been this active, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Having marked a 20-year milestone in India, global tech giant Google is upbeat about its next innings here with Artificial Intelligence (AI) playing a big role in it, India MD Roma Datta Chobey said on Thursday, adding that the company is aligning its vision and strategy fully to the country's growth and ambitions. In an interview to PTI, Chobey said Google believes that AI should be regulated but in a way that strikes a fine balance between user benefit -- which is "still at a nascent stage" -- and at the same time, fosters innovation.
Gaming and cyber security experts suggest how kids and parents can stay aware to fight the growing threats and miscreants who act from behind the screen.
Bengaluru is at a critical juncture, where its economic model, reliant on attracting and retaining skilled professionals, is directly threatened by a measurable decline in urban quality of life, point out Shishir Gupta and Rishita Sachdeva.
More Indians start car shopping online, pushing automakers and dealers to respond quickly, train staff, and use AI to turn clicks into showroom visits.
The Indian government has said that social media platform X will be held responsible for content generated by its artificial intelligence tool Grok. This comes after users on X asked Grok questions about Indian politicians and the AI platform responded with "unpalatable" answers. The government is currently in discussion with X to understand and assess how Grok works. The government has previously taken action against social media platforms for AI-generated content that has been deemed offensive. In this case, the government is considering holding X accountable for Grok's content, even though it is generated by an AI tool. The government's stance is likely to have implications for other social media platforms that use AI tools.
'There is a huge risk of misinformation and disinformation, and targeted campaigns that could potentially happen against candidates or to push certain narratives.'
AI chatbots often give unsafe health advice, warns a global study.
Google on Tuesday began reinstating about 250 Indian apps it had delisted from its Play Store over a billing dispute as it caved in to government criticism, but the squabble may not yet be over.
'People who really are at the frontier of using AIs are going to be way more employable than people who are not.'
Vi partners SpaceX-rival AST SpaceMobile for satcom service on smartphones
'There is need for India-specific pricing.' 'Google, Microsoft and others also have different pricing.' 'It is important for OpenAI to think on these lines as the global pricing may not work in the Indian context.'
While Facebook said on Tuesday it will publish an interim report on July 2 as mandated by the IT rules, Google will publish its transparency report as required under the new IT Rules in India.
Google is building voice and text search for over 100 Indian languages and will spend $75 million to support women-led startups in the country, said its CEO Sundar Pichai at the start of his visit to India - a nation that he saw as a big export economy. India, he said, will be a big export economy and it needs to create a balance between safeguarding citizens and enabling companies to innovate with its framework. Pichai first met Telecom and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and spoke at a Google for India 2022 event before calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Here's what you must know about the new rule, its implications, and whether it affects taxpayers' rights and privacy.
Meta is working closely with the Election Commission. This enables the Commission to flag unlawful content.
Apple and Signal silent on names required under the new IT rules.
Google's chief privacy officer, Keith Enright, has warned policymakers that frequent and large-scale sharing of citizen data, even if anonymized, can damage users' privacy. Pointing to research that shows data sets lose their anonymity if shared consistently over time, he said: "I would encourage policymakers and companies to be extremely circumspect while proceeding in that direction." Anonymization is a technique that removes or modifies personally identifiable information, resulting in data that cannot be associated with any one individual.
'Just the amount of work which is there just to become more and more successful in banking. For this to happen you need to have leaders who understand technology.'
'If you align your ambition with India's rise, the peak of your careers will unfold alongside the peak of India's power.'
Google unveiled on Wednesday a slate of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and technologies for Indian developers at its first I/O Connect event for India, being held in Bengaluru. The company made accessible for Indian developers its faster, more accurate large language AI model accessible through PaLM API, Makersuite, as well as features on Google Cloud's Vertex AI. Google Cloud officially launched a new initiative in collaboration with Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, to help sellers build and scale commerce platforms across the country.
'You can imagine for India what Shuks means not just to the billions of people in India but the entire Indian diaspora around the world.'
Scrutiny of Google's code of conduct in the Indian Android ecosystem is far from over with several start-ups preparing to appeal against the company's revised policies of service fee on in-app purchases and subscriptions, according to sources in the know. This comes days after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) granted partial relief to the tech giant, reversing four of the 10 key non-monetary directives that would have forced Google to allow uninstalling of its pre-installed apps on Android devices. Paytm, BharatMatrimony, and ShareChat are among the start-ups that are likely to file grievances against the tech major for alleged non-compliance with the Competition Commission of India's (CCI's) cease-and-desist order on Play Store policies.
Internet giant Google is investing $10 billion in India's digitisation fund, its CEO Sundar Pichai has told Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a step that will recognise India's leadership on fintech and will support small and large businesses in India, the US and around the world. Pichai met Prime Minister Modi in Washington on Friday and also announced the opening of Google's global fintech operation centre in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) in Gandhinagar. "It was an honour to meet Prime Minister Modi during the historic visit to the US. We shared with the Prime Minister that Google is investing $10 billion in India's digitisation fund," Pichai said.
Google Glass is worn like conventional glasses, but that combines a computerised central processing unit, touch-pad, display screen, high-definition camera, microphone, bone-conduction transducer, and wireless connectivity.
The search engine company said on Thursday it would capture the city's street view and make it available on Google Maps.
In 2023-2024, 95 scheduled commercial banks received over 10 million complaints from their customers. The process of KYC at many banks has become 'HYC' -- harass your customer, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The 9-to-5 structure feels outdated to the Gen Z generation.
Facebook and Google officials in New Delhi on Tuesday deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on the issue of misuse of social media platforms.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday directed X Corp and Google Inc to remove prima facie defamatory social media posts against Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daughter Anjali Birla.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged CEOs of US majors to take advantage of India's growth story as the country is making all efforts to become the third largest economy of the world in his third term. India is currently the fifth largest economy of the world after the US, China, Germany and Japan with a GDP of around $3.9 trillion. India has been the fastest growing large economies of the world with GDP growth rate of over 7 per cent for the last three consecutive years.
Tech and startup industry bodies have again pushed back against calls by telecom operators to bring over-the-top (OTT) services under a licensing regime similar to telcos, and open them up to taxation. Ahead of public consultations on the issue later this week, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Nasscom and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), among others, have written to the government arguing against such efforts.
Vaishnaw told reporters that the government had recently issued a notice to companies on the deepfake issue, and the platforms responded, but added that the firms will have to be more aggressive in taking action on such content.
After failing to get a court order to block an antitrust ruling, Google on Wednesday said it will allow users in India to choose default search engine on Android-based smartphones. As part of the key changes the tech giant will make to its platforms and business in India in the aftermath of the landmark CCI ruling, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) will be able to license individual Google apps for pre-installation on their devices. Google is also updating the Android compatibility requirements to introduce changes for partners to build non-compatible or forked variants, the company said in its blog.
'If you are not prudent, you may exceed your budget, and if it happens too often, you may end up in debt.'
Industry associations and companies in the United States, including the US Chamber of Commerce, Coalition of Services Industries and the iconic bike company Harley Davidson have called on the Donald Trump dispensation to push India to reduce tariffs, non-tariffs, and regulatory barriers to boost American exports.
'With free software on the Internet and apps, creating a deepfake video can take 3 to 5 minutes. Anyone can make these videos.'
The bench allowed the rejoinder affidavit to be filed by petitioners in two weeks thereafter and posted the matter for final hearing in January, 2025.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is likely to join the list of Big Tech companies going for large-scale layoffs. With this, almost the entire universe of FAANG - acronym for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google - has now come under the layoff turbulence hitting tens of thousands of tech jobs around the world. Reports surfaced on Tuesday about the Mountain View (California)-headquartered tech giant planning to fire around 10,000 employees.