NEW DELHI, 10 July 2025: In a move aimed at advancing digital transformation in India’s agriculture sector and enriching AI with local context, Google has announced the launch of several open-source AI tools and initiatives.
These include the Agricultural Monitoring and Event Detection (AMED) API, which offers field-level crop intelligence across India, and a collaboration with IIT-Kharagpur to develop datasets reflective of India’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
The initiatives were announced on Thursday at Google’s roundtable event at its new Bengaluru office, Ananta.
Developed by Google DeepMind and Google’s Partnerships Innovation team, the AMED API builds upon the earlier Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) API. It harnesses raw satellite imagery, crop labels, and machine learning algorithms to deliver real-time insights on crop type, field size, sowing and harvesting dates, and historical agricultural activity going back three years.
By enabling such granular data access, the tool is designed to empower agri-tech developers, startups, policymakers, and researchers to build precision agriculture tools, improve resource planning, and anticipate harvest patterns.
Alok Talekar, Agriculture and Sustainability Research Lead at Google DeepMind, stated: "We are moving from broad insights to real-time, field-level data that enables actionable solutions. AMED aims to enhance agricultural resilience and productivity across India."
Furthering its Amplify Initiative, Google DeepMind has also partnered with IIT-Kharagpur to create culturally grounded datasets. These resources aim to make global large language models (LLMs) more inclusive and responsive to India’s diverse linguistic landscape.
Manish Gupta, Senior Director for India and APAC at Google DeepMind, said: "AI is a powerful catalyst for multiplier impact. We remain committed to ensuring helpful and inclusive AI reaches every corner of India."
These initiatives come at a time when India is experiencing both climate-related agricultural distress and a rapid push toward AI-driven transformation. Experts believe that open-access, localised AI tools like AMED will be crucial in making Indian agriculture more adaptive, resilient, and efficient.
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