Karnataka leads India's AI race, says IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge

Core Insights - Karnataka is positioning itself as a leader in artificial intelligence (AI), hosting major global AI players such as Harvey AI and Anthropic, and The Walt Disney Company is expanding its AI network in Bengaluru [5] - The state government has launched a "deeptech decade initiative," providing grants of up to Rs 1 crore to support startups [5] - A strategic memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between French AI firm H Company and St John's Medical College and St John's Research Institute to pilot advanced enterprise AI for hospital operations and workflow automation [2] - The US-India Business Council (USIBC) is facilitating technology collaboration and investment partnerships between Karnataka and global enterprises [5] - Discussions were held with Finnish and Cypriot officials to explore AI and deeptech collaboration, including joint research and positioning Cyprus as a gateway to European markets for Bengaluru-based startups [3][5] - The minister reviewed emerging technology applications and digital innovation use cases at the Meta platforms kiosk [4][5]