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Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh is at the forefront of leveraging global opportunities linked to data revolution, Minister for Education, IT, and Electronics Nara Lokesh has asserted. He made these remarks at the Investopia Global–Andhra Pradesh conference, organised by the Economic Development Board in Vijayawada on on Page 7
Minister of Human Resources, IT Nara Lokesh with UAE Finance Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri and Minister of Industries TG Bharat on the sidelines of Investopia Andhra Pradesh-2025 in Vijayawada on Wednesday.
During a discussion on AI and data centers, Minister Lokesh highlighted some of the key tech initiatives of the coalition government. "The first 152-bit quantum computer in South Asia is set to be unveiled in Amaravati, the capital of Andhra Pradesh, in January. This will transform the entire ecosystem," he declared. He observed that Visakhapatnam was rapidly developing into a 'data city', with several renowned international organizations expressing interest in establishing their data centers in the port city.
Acknowledging the challenges of transforming well-entrenched education systems to embrace advanced technologies like AI, Minister Lokesh outlined significant curriculum changes. "In line with global advancements, we are introducing AI skill development programmes in polytechnic, degree, and engineering education. We are bringing radical changes to the curriculum with subjects like AI and quantum computing," he mentioned.
The Minister emphasised the state government's goal to provide improved public services through the integration of AI in daily administration. "During my 'Pada Yatra' (foot march), I personally witnessed the difficulties people faced in accessing basic land records. After our government came to power, we focused on delivering easier citizen services through AI," he said. In the context, he cited 'Mana mitra', a WhatsApp governance initiative, which now provides over 600 types of citizen services rapidly by integrating various government departments through a large back-end data lake.
Andhra Pradesh is looking to the UAE as a role model in adopting AI technology. "The United Arab Emirates was the first country in the world to establish a Ministry of AI," Minister Lokesh noted, adding that the UAE utilized AI for traffic regulation too.
Addressing concerns over job displacement due to AI, he stated, "I do not agree with the argument that some jobs will be lost due to Artificial Intelligence. I believe every industrial revolution creates new jobs."
According to Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh is poised to become a $2.4 trillion economy in the coming days. "As part of G2G collaboration, we aim at strengthening digital economy through mutual cooperation between the UAE and Andhra Pradesh," he said. Minister Lokesh affirmed that they would explore ways to drive economic growth through AI, data centers, digital innovations, and smart governance. Lokesh identified ChatGPT as his favorite AI application.
The event was attended by Manu Jain, CEO of G42 India, and hosted by Raksha Shraddha, Vice President of Primus Partners. Minister Lokesh also held discussions with the UAE Finance Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri regarding investments in renewable energy, infrastructure, digital governance, AI-first universities, genome sequencing, quantum valley, and logistics sectors. He sought support from the UAE for investments in these areas. In response, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri invited Minister Lokesh to visit the UAE.
