Reliance Industries Ltd has launched its AI unit Reliance Intelligence Ltd, and announced a joint venture with Meta besides expanding its partnership with Google Cloud, signalling the conglomerate's ambition to be at the forefront of AI development.

Reliance Intelligence will pursue the business of setting up, acquiring, holding/investing in and promoting various ventures relating to artificial intelligence, said Reliance Industries in a filing to the stock exchanges.

As part of the deal with Meta, a new company will be incorporated in which Reliance Industries through its AI unit will hold 70% stake and Meta the remaining 30% stake. The two companies have jointly committed to make an initial investment of Rs 855 crore (($100 million) in the JV.

The JV will be engaged in developing, marketing and distributing enterprise AI services.

While Meta will draw upon its Llama engineering knowledge; Reliance will bring its reach to thousands of enterprises and small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India and product delivery capabilities.

"RIL will also serve as a real‑world enterprise‑scale environment for deploying and refining the joint venture’s offerings - enabling rapid iteration and continuous improvement at scale," said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries.

"Through this joint venture, we’re putting Meta’s Llama models into real-world use, and I’m looking forward 

to Meta expanding its footprint in the enterprise space as we unlock new possibilities together," Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Meta

The transaction with Meta is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, as part its partnership with Google Cloud, Reliance will work with Google Cloud to establish a state-of-the-art, AI-focused cloud region dedicated to Reliance in Jamnagar.

"This is only the beginning, and we look forward to building India’s AI future together," said Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google and Alphabet.

Reliance Industries' move to double down on its efforts to boost its AI ambition comes even as tech giants like Meta and Google are investing heavily to stay ahead in the AI race.

Recently, ChatGPT maker OpenAI said it will launch its India office in New Delhi later this year, as the AI startup seeks to tap into India second largest customer base after the US. The Sam Altman-led startup also recently unveiled its India-tailored ChatGPT Go subscription plan for Rs 399 per month.