Jan AI opens first ‘AI cafe’ in H.D. Kote in Mysuru district

Madan Padaki, founder of Jan AI, has been looking at how communities could be empowered to own AI and use it to solve their problems. | Photo Credit: File photo Jan AI, an initiative by Head Held High Foundation to take AI to the rural people, has launched a ‘Jan AI Cafe’ at H.D. Kote in Mysuru district. It has been set up in a Millets Cafe run by women from the Jenukuraba community, in partnership with Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement.The AI cafe will serve as a community AI adoption centre where people from 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 solutionsThe Foundation has been looking at how communities could be empowered to own AI and use it to solve their problems. On top of building basic AI awareness among communities, to identify local problems and leverage the youth to solve them using AI, the initiative has been training ‘AI Ambassadors’ from local communities. So far, 18 young ambassadors have been trained in H.D. Kote who have identified several local problems and will start working on the 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 thought of a cafe,” said Madan Padaki, founder of Jan AI, at the launch of the AI cafe.“Communities can come here, learn AI, use it, and if they face any problem, they can come back here to address it,” he added. According to Mr. Padaki, the first AI Cafe would focus largely on solutions for women, by women.Tracking progressTo measure how communities are using AI, the initiative has partnered with Wipro to create an AI index. Metrics on how many people are using the solutions, what are they being used for and how, the economic value it generates across sectors, such as farming, healthcare, tourism, education, and women entrepreneurship, will be tracked and displayed at the cafes.The initiative plans to test-run five AI cafes in Mysuru district. According to Mr. Padaki, the next centre is being prepared in T. Narasipura with a plan to open in August. Published - July 29, 2026 12:54 pm IST