Odisha govt keen to use AI in governance for public benefit: Minister

Bhubaneswar, Dec 19 : The Odisha government has outlined ambitious plans to deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) across all departments to improve governance and public service delivery, Health and Family Welfare, Electronics and Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling said on Thursday.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the one-day Odisha AI Symposium 2025, organised by Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA) Deemed to be University here, Dr Mahaling said the state had a clear roadmap for AI adoption in multiple sectors. “Odisha is way ahead in this field. We plan to use AI in all 41 departments of the government,” he said, adding that AI-powered tools would be used to monitor and evaluate government schemes for better outcomes.

The minister said the Odisha AI Policy 2025 was creating a comprehensive innovation ecosystem backed by strong governance, world-class digital capabilities and long-term policy certainty. “We are looking at how to use AI and what our sustainable AI future will be,” he said.

Highlighting the growing role of technology, Dr Mahaling remarked that while parents, teachers and nature were traditionally considered the three ‘gurus’ of human life, AI had now emerged as the fourth. “Whenever we have questions, we seek answers from this technology,” he noted.

The Odisha AI Symposium—the first of its kind in the state—was organised by SOA in collaboration with the Odisha Society of Americas (OSA) and the AI and HPC Centre of IIT Bhubaneswar. The day-long event brought together policymakers, industry leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and ecosystem enablers to deliberate on the application of AI across sectors such as healthcare and agriculture.

Dr Mahaling also informed that Bhubaneswar is hosting a two-day Regional AI Impact Summit 2025 on December 19 and 20, organised by the Electronics and Information Technology Department. He added that a regional AI summit would be held in Odisha after the India AI Summit in New Delhi in February 2026.

The session was presided over by Prof Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, and was also addressed by Pradeep Kumar Jena, former Odisha Chief Secretary and Chairman of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), along with technical experts.

On the occasion, winners of the Odisha AI Hackathon 2025—a precursor to the symposium conducted across four regional nodal centres, with AIC-SOA Foundation hosting the central zone—were felicitated. The hackathon was organised under the patronage of the Odisha Society of Americas.