Hyderabad: Telangana govt has rolled out its new autonomous body to drive AI innovation called Aikam and pitched it as a “global proving ground” for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) at scale.
Aikam was unveiled on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on Thursday by chief minister A Revanth Reddy.Aikam will act as a global platform where AI solutions can be built, tested, and rolled out on largescale. The govt hopes the platform will drive Telangana to one of the world’s top 20 AI innovation hubs. It will have capabilities like mass upskilling to build an AI-ready workforce, support startups building AI-based products, and will enable deeper collaboration between academia, research institutions, and industry,“Telangana believes in execution, not experimentation,” said Revanth at the rollout of Aikam, pointing out that it will bring together existing and upcoming state initiatives under one umbrella.“As the world moves from AI pilots to deployment at scale, we invite global partners to anchor their proving ground in Telangana—where AI is deployed responsibly, governed transparently, and scaled with trust,” the CM added.IT and industries minister D Sridhar Babu said the state will back the effort with large public datasets, better access to computing infrastructure, and a dedicated AI Fund-of-Funds. He said the goal is to move from ideas to real-world use while maintaining public confidence.Along with Aikam, Telangana also launched the first edition of the Responsible AI Standard and Ethics (RAISE) Index, which it described as a measurable framework to track responsible practices across the full AI lifecycle.Sridhar Babu said AI is changing economies quickly and Aikam is meant to provide a clear path from ideas to solutions that can scale globally. He said Aikam’s structure, while anchored within the Telangana government, is designed to move faster while keeping public trust, enabling responsible use of AI at population scale.Aikam’s founding CEO Phani Nagarjuna said Telangana was well placed to take AI from promise to practice because of its talent base, institutional capacity, infrastructure, and leadership focus on execution.Several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were also signed on the occasion with international organisations covering skilling, computing, applied research, and design-led deployment. UK-based education company Pearson said it will anchor an AI Academy with Aikam for skilling and credentialing, while Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) signed an agreement to build start-up corridors between Telangana and Dubai.Blaize Inc signed up to explore setting up an advanced R&D centre focused on efficient AI computing and AI CoLab of the MedStar–Georgetown Collaboration Centre signed an MoU to speed up applied research in healthcare and life sciences. Journey said it plans to lead a Centre of Excellence focused on AI-driven design and immersive digital experiences.Telangana special chief secretary Sanjay Kumar said, “Telangana believes that meaningful AI leadership is created by working with the world, not apart from it.”
