New Delhi: Odisha has emerged as a frontrunner in the national artificial intelligence landscape at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. Speaking at the Democratization of AI- Bharat Story session today, Shri Vishal Kumar Dev, Additional Chief Secretary(ACS) , Energy and Electronics & IT Department, Government of Odisha presented a detailed and strategic roadmap designed to transition the state from experimental pilots to large-scale, frontline AI deployments.
A primary highlight of the state’s presentation is the establishment of a sovereign AI hub in Odisha. This project, supported by a 20,000 crore investment from Sarvam AI, is projected to create 5,000 high-skilled jobs over the next five years.
ACS Shri Dev emphasized that this infrastructure will serve as the backbone for Odisha’s digital transformation, facilitating a shift from a traditional resource-based economy to one driven by technology and innovation.
The state’s vision is anchored in five priority sectors: healthcare, education, agriculture, disaster management, and governance. Unlike traditional models that focus on tech-literate urban populations, Odisha’s strategy prioritizes inclusivity for rural and tribal communities. This is being achieved through voice-first, Odia-language AI systems that allow citizens to interact with government services and grievance redressal platforms in their native tongue.
Odisha’s dedicated pavilion at Bharat Mandapam, themed Odisha – From AI to Impact, is the brain child of ACS Shri Dev has features over 10 startups and research organizations.
These participants are showcasing live use cases, including: AI-assisted clinical decision support for rural health centers, Precision agriculture advisories delivered via AI-powered IVR systems using hyper-local climate data, Urban flood prevention systems and automated disaster response tools and the AIKosh initiative, which has already seen the upload of over 1,600 Odia literary datasets to train more accurate, context-sensitive machine learning models.
ACS Shri Dev noted that the state has institutionalized this progress by appointing AI Champions within each government department. This structured model ensures that identified use cases move efficiently through a funnel from departmental identification to statewide rollout.
By focusing on democratizing access rather than just increasing user numbers, Odisha aims to ensure that AI serves as a tool for measurable public service delivery and socio-economic empowerment for all citizens.