Google is expanding its AI training programme for teachers to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim, after training more than 80,000 educators across India since its launch in May, the company announced.
The Google AI Educator Series, developed to help teachers use artificial intelligence in lesson planning, learning material creation and classroom preparation, will also be available as a free, self-paced online course. The curriculum is aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and is designed to accommodate teachers’ schedules.
The programme is being expanded through new partnerships with the three states and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. The training is currently available in English, with Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Assamese, Odia and Punjabi versions expected to follow.
Google said the programme introduces educators to tools such as Gemini and NotebookLM, which can assist with preparing lesson plans, creating customised learning aids and streamlining routine teaching tasks.
The company is also supporting educators at 100 Atal Tinkering Labs through ATL Saathi, a Gemini-powered desktop application for STEM curricula. It is partnering with institutions such as IIT Bombay and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to support research on the use of AI in education.
The education initiatives form part of a wider set of AI partnerships announced by Google across scientific research, agriculture and economic inclusion.
In agriculture, Google DeepMind and Google.org, through the AI Collaborative for Food Security, are partnering with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and the University of Washington to develop an open-access genetic atlas of sorghum varieties.
The project will draw on a representative sample from ICRISAT’s genebank, which holds more than 44,000 distinct seed varieties from over 90 countries. Using genetic analysis and machine learning, researchers aim to identify promising plant combinations and accelerate the development of climate-resilient crops.
Google DeepMind will also support a three-year postdoctoral fellowship at ICRISAT, its first such fellowship in India and its first outside the UK. The work is expected to help develop tools for characterising the genomes of other important crops, including chickpea, groundnut and pigeon pea.
Google also announced expanded access to its Agricultural Understanding models, which developers, startups and researchers can use to build localised agricultural applications. The company cited Gujarat’s Krushi Pragati platform, where Amnex has integrated Google’s agricultural model APIs to deliver more than 900 million SMS-based advisories to over 600,000 farmers in the past year.
For small businesses, Google.org is providing $15 million in funding to The/Nudge to support the development of AI tools for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). The initiative will focus on improving access to formal credit, market discovery and compliance, alongside a multilingual, voice-led platform intended to train local talent in smaller towns and connect them with businesses.
Preeti Lobana, vice-president and country manager of Google India, and Lila Ibrahim, global chief AI readiness officer at Google, said the initiatives were aimed at applying AI to practical challenges through partnerships with researchers, educators, government agencies and grassroots organisations.
