Minister Uttam launches ISF AI Summit in Hyderabad, highlights govt commitment to promoting AI

Hyderabad: Irrigation, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy reiterated the commitment of the Congress government in Telangana to establish Hyderabad as a global hub for Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Speaking at the curtain raiser for the first ISF Global AI Summit and International Junicorns Startup Festival at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT-H) on Monday, Uttam Kumar Reddy highlighted Telangana’s pioneering efforts in leveraging AI for inclusive growth and innovation.

Ethical challenges in AI disruption

"The advent of Generative AI is transforming the world at an unprecedented pace," said Uttam Kumar Reddy. He emphasised the dual aspects of AI’s rise: its immense potential to drive industry growth and its challenges, including job disruptions and ethical dilemmas. He outlined the Telangana Government’s proactive initiatives, such as the AI City project and the establishment of Skills University, to nurture skilled professionals and address AI's ethical challenges collaboratively with industry and academia.

The International Startup Foundation (ISF) formally announced the first Global AI Summit and the International Junicorns Startup Festival, set to be held in Dallas, USA, from May 28 to 30, 2025. The summit aims to bring together startups, investors, global AI leaders and policymakers to explore AI’s disruptive role in industries like healthcare, education, and climate change.

Solutions for real-world problems

Highlighting the Junicorns Festival, JA Chowdary, Founder and Chairman of ISF, said, “This platform will enable young innovators aged 8–18 to develop solutions to real-world problems through a hackathon. Selected participants will be sponsored to present their ideas in Dallas, offering them a unique opportunity to network with global leaders in AI.”

Uttam Kumar Reddy described AI as a critical driver of growth across sectors, including healthcare, education, smart mobility, and manufacturing. “Compute power and AI ethics will be significant challenges in the future,” he noted, urging governments, industries, and academia to collaborate in building ethical frameworks and robust AI systems that benefit humanity.

He also lauded ISF for its efforts to mentor startups, particularly from Tier II and Tier III towns, and foster an ecosystem for innovative ideas.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between ISF and edu-tech firm Co-ignite to launch the 'Learnathon 4.0 AI/ML programme', which aims to train over 2 lakh students and professionals in AI and Machine Learning. This initiative seeks to address the growing demand for an industry-ready workforce by strengthening connections between academia and corporates.

Interactive roundtables

The event hosted three interactive roundtables on: Ecosystem for Generative AI Applications, AI in Healthcare, and AI in Education.

Experts discussed AI’s transformative potential in diagnostics, adaptive learning systems and collaboration between startups and large corporations to solve industry challenges.

Vedant Ahluwalia, Founder and MD of Dataviv Technologies spoke about the transformative role of AI labs in bridging educational gaps for rural and urban youth. Dataviv also signed an MoU with ISF to advance AI-driven educational initiatives.