AP, Gates Foundation join hands to power state’s AI, health push

• Gates calls AP a leader in tech-driven governance
•  Swarnandhra 2047 targets US$2.4 trn economy: CM
•  Sanjeevani will expand statewide by July

Amaravati: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday sealed the state’s partnership with the Gates Foundation, calling it “a defining step in AP’s development journey”.

Welcoming Bill Gates to Amaravati, Naidu said the collaboration would give the State a new direction. He called the visit historic and said it would strengthen public health, education, agriculture, and AI-led governance.

Recalling his first meeting with Bill Gates in 1997, Naidu said he had then persuaded Microsoft to invest in Hyderabad. That decision, he noted, helped transform the city into a global IT hub. After the 2014 bifurcation, he said, Andhra Pradesh began rebuilding with focus on technology and wealth creation. Given support from the Gates Foundation, he said, he was confident that the State could emerge as a national leader by 2047.

Gates praised India’s digital public infrastructure and said the country is well placed to lead the digital revolution. He described Naidu as “a forward-looking leader” and a “good old friend”. The foundation, he said, works largely in public health with the goal of bringing quality healthcare close to people.

The founder of the Gates Foundation appreciated the State’s “Sanjeevani” health platform, piloted in Kuppam, and said AI can transform healthcare delivery as well as education and agriculture. AI tools, he noted, can help assess students’ learning levels, support doctors in remote areas, and provide predictive advisories to farmers. He welcomed the use of technology for disaster prediction and loss prevention.

Naidu presented his Swarnandhra 2047 vision built on 10 principles, including zero poverty, full employment, water security, agri-tech growth, clean energy, deep tech and sanitation. He set ambitious economic targets: raising Gross State Domestic Product from US$180 billion to US$2.4 trillion, boosting per capita income to US$ 42,000, and increasing exports to US$450 billion by 2047.

The State aims to bring unemployment rate to below 2 per cent, raise female workforce participation to 80 per cent and achieve near-universal literacy. It also targets sharp improvements in maternal and infant mortality rates.

Naidu said the speed of governance is the key. The State uses Aadhaar-based verification, integrated data lakes, real-time monitoring systems, and WhatsApp services to deliver schemes efficiently. Andhra Pradesh currently runs 98 AI use cases across 30 departments and has launched seven data lake projects.

In agriculture, AI advisories, drone services, and farmer support centers provide soil testing, pest alerts, and market guidance. In healthcare, 71 lakh people have undergone multi-parameter screening. The Sanjeevani pilot has enrolled 2.9 lakh residents across 109 health centers and will expand statewide by July 2026, aligning with the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.