Building Custom AI, multi-agent AI from India: SAP Labs India head

SAP Labs India’s team is building Custom AI and multi-agent AI from India for the world, said Sindhu Gangadharan, Managing Director, SAP Labs India and Head, Customer Innovation Services in a press briefing on Tuesday. These two technology components will drive the next wave of business transformation for the customers, she added.

Custom AI models are trained on a company’s proprietary data for its specific functions. “Stepping into our customers' shoes, they focus on edge cases that allow them to stand out and set themselves apart from the competition. We are leveraging SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP) to help customers build these edge use cases,” Gangadharan said. She further said that the focus is on three main sectors – consumer, discrete manufacturing, and energy and natural resources – where there is a concentrated digital transformation effort. 

“With productivity growth plateauing and businesses seeking to address talent shortages, AI agents represent a promising application of AI that can enhance productivity beyond the capabilities of current software and AI technologies,” said Sindhu about building AI agents at SAP Labs India.

SAP Labs India is the company’s second-largest R&D hub globally. Earlier this year, SAP appointed two key leaders to global AI roles, both based at the Bengaluru office – Rahul Lodhe as the Global Head of Engineering for SAP Business AI Copilot Joule and Sudhakar Singh as the Chief AI Security Officer.

SAP Labs India has started constructing its second office in Bengaluru, spread over 41 acres and is expected to be able to accommodate 15,000 people. The company performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the new campus in Devanahalli last year in May. The first phase of the campus encompassing an area of 98,000 square meters will be ready by Q2 in 2025. Phase 1 of the campus, which can seat over 3,500 people, is being built with an investment of €80 million (~$90 million).