Jan AI opens first ‘AI cafe’ at HD Kote in Mysuru district
Madan Padaki, founder of Jan AI, looked at how communities could be empowered to own AI and use it to solve their problems. | Photo credit: File photo
Jan AI, an initiative of Head Held High Foundation to introduce artificial intelligence to rural people, has launched ‘Jan AI Cafe’ at HD Kote in Mysuru district. It was set up at Millets Cafe run by the women of the Jenukuraba community in collaboration with the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement.
The AI Café will serve as a community hub for AI adoption, where the people of the region can discover and build AI solutions for their daily lives with the help of community members trained by Jan AI.
A trusted space for local solutions
The foundation looked at how communities could be empowered to own artificial intelligence and use it to solve their problems. In addition to building grassroots awareness of AI among communities, to identify local problems and get young people to solve them with AI, the initiative trains “AI ambassadors” from local communities. So far 18 youth ambassadors have been trained at HD Kote who have identified several local issues and will start working on solutions.
“When local solutions are needed, you can’t expect people to find them on the web. They need a trusted place to come to. That’s why we came up with the cafe,” said Madan Padaki, founder of Jan AI, at the launch of AI cafe.
“Communities can come here, learn AI, use it, and if they face a problem, they can come back here and solve it,” he added. According to Mr. Padaki, the first AI Cafe would focus mostly on solutions for women, by women.
Tracking progress
To measure how communities are using AI, the initiative has partnered with Wipro to create the AI Index. The cafes will track and display metrics on how many people use the solution, what and how it is used, what economic value it generates across sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, tourism, education and women’s entrepreneurship.
The initiative plans to test five AI cafes in Mysuru district. According to Mr. Padaki, another center is in the pipeline at T. Narasipura with plans to open in August.
Published – 29 Jul 2026 12:54 IST