The philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, arrived in Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, on Tuesday. He is expected to take part in a number of programs, one of which is centered on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in agriculture.

Gates will also attend activities pertaining to the "Jaga Mission," which aims to improve slums, the "Mukta" plan, which offers localized job chances to the urban poor, and "Mission Shakti," according to authorities. He will also meet with State Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

According to authorities, the Department of Agriculture & Farmer Empowerment and the Department of Fisheries and Animal Resource of the Odisha government have been working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2017 to promote innovation in data-driven decision-making.

A number of well-known figures, including Ted Pick, the CEO of Morgan Stanley, and Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, are expected to attend the pre-wedding celebration in Jamnagar, Gujarat, for Anant Ambani, the son of Mukesh and Nita Ambani, and Radhika Merchant. Pre-wedding activities are planned for March 1–March 3, a three-day period. Later this year, the pair plans to tie the knot in Mumbai.

Gates states, “I'll get to witness India's DPI in operation while I'm there. I'll be visiting an agricultural monitoring facility in the state of Odisha, where farmers receive real-time advise from government authorities using DPI. This center's ability to keep track of 7.5 million farmers—even those without land—as well as their crops—thanks to Aadhaar—allows officials to monitor who is cultivating what and, therefore, what type of agricultural assistance they require.”

According to Gates, it has also created a chatbot that makes it simple for farmers to obtain the most recent information on their crops. AI is used to customize content to each farmer's specific requirements and to speak to them in their native tongue.

More than 4 million farmers are currently a member of this service's pest-management program, which has reduced the amount of crops that participating farmers lose to pests annually by 90% since it started in 2018. According to him, other states in India, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, and the World Bank are now interested in gaining knowledge from Odisha's experience with this service, along with its digital payments system and biometric ID.

Gates spoke with a number of important people on his most recent trip to India in March of last year, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.