Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, unveiled the company's plan to provide 2 million people in India, from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, with AI skilling services by 2023, underscoring the importance of India-USA collaboration on AI norms and regulations. The company stated that the initiative was undertaken to help diffuse the technology to smaller cities and rural areas for inclusive socio-economic growth. Alongside, the CEO stressed the larger goal of ensuring global AI diffusion to ensure equal distribution of socio-economic progress worldwide.

Why does this matter?

The initiative follows a slew of recent global attempts by governments and the private sector to regulate AI and harmonize governance efforts through collaboration. It also emphasises the increasing need to democratize access to AI education to bridge the growing digital divide, both between countries and within different regions of a country, across the world.