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.
'People who really are at the frontier of using AIs are going to be way more employable than people who are not.'
As the Apple CEO put it to his staff, the choice is stark: Adopt AI or risk being left behind. The same applies to everyone preparing for the future of work.
'India did not surrender. That was why he wanted to pressurise India by this 25% tariffs.'
Procter & Gamble has announced Shailesh Jejurikar as its next CEO, effective January 1, 2026. Jejurikar, an India-born executive, will succeed Jon Moeller in the role.
Gen Z, driven by AI anxiety and economic pragmatism, have concerns about pursuing passions as careers as they fear it may not make them enough sufficient income.
Across the board, brands use influencers like a Bhuvan Bam or Kusha Kapila as the second or third rung of their strategy. The first rung is always a celebrity that has been created outside the Internet, through mainstream media.
'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.'
'Iranians admire Indian cinema and often mention Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan when you meet them.'
Following in Apple's footsteps, Alphabet - Google's parent company - is in advanced talks with Foxconn to manufacture Pixel smartphones in Tamil Nadu, an industrial state which will also double up as drone-manufacturing hub for the US tech giant soon. According to a state government release, officials from Google will soon visit Chennai to meet Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin to hold discussion on manufacturing of Google Pixel near Chennai.
'Unless we consistently show up with the right cars, at the right time, priced fairly, we risk becoming irrelevant very quickly.'
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.
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.
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.
A proposal to change the name of Mount Abu, Rajasthan's only hill station, to "Aburaj Teerth" and ban non-vegetarian food and alcohol consumption in public has sparked protests from local businesses, who fear severe economic consequences. They argue that the name change will cause confusion and the restrictions will drastically reduce tourist numbers, impacting livelihoods.
Taking a strong view of Google pulling out some apps from its Play Store, the government on Saturday said delisting of Indian apps cannot be permitted and that the tech company and the startups concerned have been called for a meeting next week. In an interview to PTI, IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the startup ecosystem is key to the Indian economy and their fate cannot be left to any big tech to decide. The minister's comments assume significance as Google on Friday began removing some apps, including popular matrimony apps, from its Play Store in India over a dispute on service fee payments, even as apps and well-known startup founders cried foul.
'He's gonna inspire billions of girls and boys.'
'It may take some time for them to get down to the details, such as the location and capacity.'
On Jawaharlal Nehru's 61st death anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra recalls how India's first prime minister cultivated a unique role for the newly independent country on the world stage.
At 250 million unique visitors a month, MX Player has for long been in the same bracket as YouTube (454 million) and Meta (324 million) in reach.
'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.'
It was an aha! moment to spot India's leading industrialist at the service at St John's church ahead of Trump's inauguration, and then to see him heading to US Capitol Hill Rotunda for the inauguration in the company of the Big 4 - Tim Cook of Apple, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Sundar Pichai of Google and Mark Zuckerburg of Meta/Facebook.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has concluded his visit to France, which included co-chairing an AI summit and bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. He is now headed to the US for a bilateral meeting with President Trump. Modi's visit to France included discussions on trade, defense, energy, and cultural linkages. He also inaugurated India's new consulate in Marseille. During his visit to the US, Modi will also interact with business leaders and members of the Indian community.
Bill Aitken came to India nearly 60 years ago. He never returned. An Indian citizen since 1972, he tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how India changed his life forever.
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.
'There is a huge risk of misinformation and disinformation, and targeted campaigns that could potentially happen against candidates or to push certain narratives.'
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.
'What scares me is the fact that there is so much content that people have content indigestion.' 'How do you entice people who have indigestion of content?'
If it was Andhra Pradesh last Budget, it's poll-bound Bihar that has now turned to Centre with a list of demands. How the NDA government is delivering on promises.
Education technology firm Byju's on Wednesday announced a partnership with tech giant Google to offer a 'learning solution' for schools. With this, the simplicity, flexibility and security of Google Workspace for Education and Byju's content pedagogy come together on the 'Vidyartha' platform to aid effective learning at school, according to a statement. This integration of Google Workspace for Education with Byju's would offer a collaborative and personalised digital platform for classroom organisation, available for free to participating educational institutions, the statement added.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday said the company continues to engage closely with partner Jio on the initiative of building an affordable smartphone and that work is underway on the project. Last year, Google had picked up a 7.7 per cent stake in Jio Platforms for Rs 33,737 crore. It had also entered into a commercial agreement with Jio Platforms to jointly develop an entry-level, affordable smartphone.
The ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) on Wednesday held an inter-ministerial meeting with various departments to discuss issues regarding revenue sharing between Big Tech companies and digital news publishers, according to sources. The meeting - chaired by I&B Secretary Sanjay Jaju - invited senior officials from the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA), Competition Commission of India (CCI), ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) and departments of promotion of industry and internal trade, legal affairs and consumer affairs.
TikTok's app effectively shut down in the US, just hours before a law banning the popular video-sharing platform was set to go into effect. The app was shut down on Saturday, displaying a message that the app "isn't available right now," but expects resolution under President-elect Trump. The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the divest-or-ban law, which gave TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance until Sunday to divest from the app. President Trump said Saturday that he would most likely give TikTok a 90-day extension. Following Friday's Supreme Court decision, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked the president-elect for his commitment to finding a solution to keep the app accessible in the US.
'Unsurprisingly, Trump shared Modi's podcast with Fridman on his Truth account.' 'The intentions of Trump, a transactional president, are never easy to tell.' 'We will know in the next fortnight if and when he unfolds reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods, whether Modi's flattering words made any significant difference to Trump's compass,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Industry leaders including Google's India-born chief executive Sundar Pichai on Wednesday mourned the death of Ratan Tata, saying the veteran industrialist cared about making India better. "He leaves an extraordinary business and philanthropic legacy and was instrumental in mentoring and developing the modern business leadership in India. He deeply cared about making India better," Pichai said in a post on X. Pichai recalled that his last meeting with Tata was at Google's office where they spoke about the progress of self-driving car Waymo.
Trump spoke approvingly of his recent telephone conversation with Xi Jinping. This could indicate the possibility of America and China reaching some level of tactical accommodation, which would not be good news for India, points out Ambassador Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced that the tech giant will soon launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered chatbot called 'Bard', aimed at countering the popularity of the ChatGPT tool backed by Microsoft. According to a blog post by Pichai, the conversational AI service will be assessed by a group of "trusted testers" before being rolled out to the public in the coming weeks. "Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity," Pichai, the Indian-origin CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said on Monday, adding that Google's chatbot will be able to explain complex subjects like new discoveries from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to a nine-year-old.
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.
'It was the early days of my 5th standard school vacation, and my mother asked me, 'Robotics classes or swimming classes for the weekends?' I chose robotics classes because technology fascinated me.'
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.
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