Former Meta India head, Kirthiga Reddy has announced the launch of AI Kiran, a pioneering initiative aimed at empowering Indian women in the field of artificial intelligence.
AI Kiran, aims to create a supportive community, provide mentorship, access to resources, and opportunities to help women build careers and leadership roles in AI technology. The program focuses on increasing women’s participation and representation in AI-related jobs and innovation in India. Essentially, AI Kiran is a platform designed to enable and uplift women in AI by connecting them with knowledge, funding, and networks needed to succeed in this advanced technology sector. The program was launched in partnership with the Indian government and global organisations.
As the first employee and Managing Director of Facebook India (now Meta) and the first female investor at SoftBank’s $130 billion AI-focused Vision Fund, Kirthiga Reddy is certain of her goals for her new platform, AI Kiran.“With India projected to be a global AI powerhouse, empowering its women in this space isn’t just local impact — it’s global transformation.”-she stated.
AI Kiran, debuting on April 21, 2025, in alignment with UN Creativity and Innovation Day, seeks to build a vibrant, cross-functional AI community for women across domains such as healthcare, education, and sustainability.
Reddy, who is currently the CEO and co-founder of Verix, a worldwide trust-tech platform, is the driving force behind AI Kiran. This initiative is a collaborative effort involving the Indian government, global organizations, and partners like Nasscom and INK Women, with a goal to reach one million women in AI over the next year. AI Kiran also aims to address the gender gap in AI roles, where women currently hold only 33% of junior-level and 19% of senior-level positions in India’s generative AI sector. The initiative is hosted on the Manthan Platform and includes a $3 million fundraising drive to support summits, scholarships, and partnerships, positioning Indian women as a transformative force in the AI landscape.
“It is towards building a cross-functional AI community. The initiative is hosted on the Manthan Platform, enabling access for a wide and diverse audience of professionals, students, and researchers across India,” Reddy explained. She said all recognitions under AI Kiran are digitally verified using blockchain-powered credentialing, ensuring authenticity, transparency, and global shareability. “This initiative combines a vibrant membership community with access to mentorship, curated learning programmes, branding support, and high-impact events – creating valuable opportunities for growth, visibility, and leadership. It is also about connecting women across geographies.”
India’s AI market is poised to reach $17 billion by 2027, Reddy said, adding that to ensure that women are a leading force in shaping and operating transformative technologies, “a collaborative approach is required between the government, private sector and civil society organisations”. This is why AI Kiran is being launched in collaboration with the office of the principal scientific adviser to the government of India and INK Women, she reasoned.
According to the original statement, the program focuses on 250 notable women in AI from important fields like enterprise IT, healthcare, education, and sustainability. Their interdisciplinary perspectives are essential to responsible and significant AI.“This launch will set the stage for a multi-year process of recognising, growing and nurturing women leaders in AI,” she added. “Over the next year, in conjunction with our partners, we aim to reach a million women in AI across our programmes.”
In addition to government support, AI Kiran has forged strong partnerships with Nasscom, 100 GIGA, AspireForHer, Udaiti Foundation, Youth Ki Awaaz and Karya. “We are also designed for global connectivity from the start in partnership with organisations like AnitaB.org, SheTO and Neythri. With these partners, we are creating avenues for ongoing learning and collaboration, mentorship programmes, funding pathways, and building a global network of women leaders.”
The launch also kickstarts a fundraising drive via the INK Women Foundation non-profit. “Our initial target of $3M supports the ambitious AI Kiran initiative with the resources for large-scale summits, academic and industry partnerships, scholarships, and sharing stories of women in AI in India on a global stage.”
