Bhubaneswar, Dec 19: The Odisha government has grandiose plans for making use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in governance for the benefit of the public, Dr. Mukesh Mahaling, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Electronics and Information Technology and Parliamentary Affairs, said on Thursday.
“We have a clear vision about AI application in different sectors and Odisha is way ahead of others in this field. The technology will be used in all 41 departments of the government,” Dr. Mahaling said while addressing the Innaugural ceremomy of the one-day Odisha AI Symposium 2025 organised by the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) here.
The minister said “ we are looking at how to use AI and what will be our sustainable AI future,” he said adding the government was keen to monitor its various schemes through AI propelled tools.
Dr. Mahaling said the Odisha AI Policy 2025 was paving the way for a complete innovation ecosystem which was backed by strong governance, world-class digital capabilities, and long-term policy certainty.
The Odisha AI Symposium, the first of its kind to be held in the state, was organised by SOA in collaboration with the Odisha Society of Americas (OSA) and AI and HPC Centre of IIT Bhubaneswar. The day-long event brought together eminent policymakers, industry leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and key ecosystem enablers on a single platform to discuss as to how AI could be used in different sectors including healthcare and agriculture.
Pointing out that parents, teachers and nature were considered the three ‘gurus’ of man, Dr. Mahaling said now AI had taken the place of the fourth ‘guru’ as “we seek answers from this technology whenever we have questions in our mind.”
The minister said Odisha was hosting a two-day Regional AI Impact Summit 2025 in the city on December 19 and 20 which was organised by the Electronics and Information Technology Department. A regional AI Summit will be held in Odisha after the India AI Summit in Delhi in February 2026.
Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, presided over the session which was also addressed by Mr. Pradeep Kumar Jena, former Odisha Chief Secretary and Chairman of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) and a galaxy of technical experts who included Prof. Chitta Baral, Professor of Computer Science, Arizona State University, USA, Prof. Abani Patra, Professor of Computer Science and Director, Data Intensive Studies Center, Tufts School of Engineering, USA, Prof. Ashutosh Dutta, Chief 5G Strategist and Director, John Hopkins University, USA, Prof. Ashwini Nanda, Center-Director, AI and HPC Center, IIT Bhubaneswar, Prof. Prasant Mohapatra, Provost and Executive Vice-President of Academic Affairs, University of South Florida, USA and Dr. Sukant Mohapatra, President of NIST University, Berhampur. Prof. Renu Sharma, Additional Dean (Student Affairs), Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), proposed the vote of thanks. Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare), conducted the proceedings.
Respectful homage was paid to the memory of late Prof. Pradipta Kumar Dash, former Vice-Chancellor of SOA and an eminent researcher, who passed away recently.
Prof. Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, said that AI was applicable to every sector of life and it already had an all-pervasive presence. Now it required the convergence of policy makers, scientists and all other stakeholders to make the best use of technology, he said.
Winners of the Odisha AI Hackathon 2025, which was a precursor of the Odisha AI Symposium and was conducted across the state in four Regional Nodal Centers with AIC-SOA Foundation hosting the event for central zone, were presented awards on the occasion. The hackathon was conucted under the patronage of the Odisha Society of Americas (OSA).
