Applied Machine Learning Intern

GDAI gears up to host India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) 2026. Powered by ELCOT in partnership with Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON India and Tencent, the 18th edition of IGDC focuses on championing indie game development and convening the gaming ecosystem in Chennai. The India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) organised by the Game Developer Association of India (GDAI), India's apex industry body for game development, will return for its 18th edition from 28 to 31 October at the Chennai Trade Centre. The four-day conference, powered by ELCOT in partnership with Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON India and Tencent, will champion indie game development and bring together developers, publishers, investors and other stakeholders from across the gaming ecosystem. IGDC is the country's most prominent platform that brings together leading figures from the global and Indian gaming economy underscoring India's emergence as a billion-dollar gaming powerhouse. Over its 17 editions, IGDC has served as the epicentre of India's game development ecosystem, connecting creators, studios, investors, and publishers. The 2026 edition is expected to draw more than 10,000 attendees and over 90 speakers, featuring a vibrant expo of global and indie innovators. With India's gaming sector projected to reach $2.4 Billion in revenue by 2029 and a gamer community exceeding 550 million, the 18th edition builds on GDAI's mission to expand innovation, access and opportunity across the country. At its core, the conference aims to give independent developers the ecosystem and connections they need to move from making games to building sustainable, globally ambitious businesses. What to expect? The first two days of the 2026 edition will feature an exceptional line-up of global voices from the video gaming world, including experts in technology, design, investing, publishing, and education. From spotlighting 60 exceptional indie developers and studios to celebrating women shaping the future of games, the 18th edition of IGDC will feature a range of initiatives designed to support indie game developers and foster industry connections. These include Investor-Publisher (IP) Connect, with 32 participating organisations and more expected to join, including global publishers Devolver Digital, Headup, Voodoo, Miniclip and KRAFTON, alongside Indian gaming companies Nazara Technologies and Felicity Games, and investors such as Makers Fund, Lumikai, Elevation and Prime Venture Partners. IP Connect meetings will further facilitate business matchmaking between studios, publishers and investors. For the final two days, IGDC Playground opens the event to players and creators, who can try original games from Indian studios and meet the teams behind them. Sridhar Muppidi, Chairperson, Game Developers Association of India (GDAI) said, "GDAI has worked to turn individual talent into a national industry, opening business opportunities for studios, training the next generation of developers and working with the government on policies that support game development. IGDC is where that work comes together, the platform where developers, publishers, investors and technology partners have met across 18 editions to build the industry. This year, with 60 indie studios on the showcase and two days open to the public, we are taking Indian games to a much wider audience." The return to Chennai follows the 2025 edition at which the Tamil Nadu government signed memoranda of understanding with Nazara Technologies, Lakshya Digital and Reliance Games, signalling long-term commitments to game development in the state. Thiru B Vishnu Chandran, IAS, Managing Director, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (ELCOT) said, "We are happy to welcome IGDC back to Chennai for the second consecutive year. The animation, visual effects, gaming and comics sector is central to Tamil Nadu's vision for the creative economy. We are committed to nurturing local talent, encouraging innovation and helping businesses grow. We invite Indian and global companies to invest, collaborate and build from Tamil Nadu, and IGDC is the ideal platform to showcase the State's potential as a gaming hub"

Tencent deploys retail AI suite across 600 asian merchants. Tencent Smart Retail rolled out its artificial intelligence enterprise software suite to 600 retail clients across Asia during an industry summit in Hong Kong. The deployment targets merchants across 30 retail sectors, connecting automated operational software directly into Tencent Cloud and the broader Weixin, WeCom and Mini Programs network. Terry Li, vertical general manager of Tencent Smart Retail, detailed the push alongside enterprise partners at the 2026 World Retail Lab Asia event. The software line-up introduces five specialized tools for merchant operations: WorkBuddy for workforce productivity, CodeBuddy for software development, DataBuddy for enterprise data workspaces, Miora for automated creative design, and Ardot for turning design assets into code. Connecting Weixin to the shop floor. The system links merchant back offices directly to front-line sales teams on WeCom and shoppers on Weixin. Rather than forcing store associates to toggle between stand-alone software suites, the setup feeds automated inventory updates, design files and customer prompts into Tencent's messaging channels. That reduces friction for floor staff who already run client relationships through corporate chat accounts. Enterprise software vendors across Asia frequently stumble on floor-level adoption. Tencent is betting that tying generative design and analytics agents to the chat apps clerks already use daily will bypass the standard training hurdles. Jewellery chains and supply taggers. Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group is using the infrastructure across customer management, store operations and jewellery design. The jewellery retail chain manages a database of nearly 60 million global loyalty members, who generate more than 95 per cent of its total sales volume. The group links unified customer insights to floor operations across its store network to track individual buying habits and stock preferences. Industrial supplier SML Group has embedded the software into its product development, market intelligence and supply management. The firm provides RFID tracking, retail identification and digital product solutions to roughly 600 consumer brands across global markets. Sinong Duan, vice president of strategy and transformation at SML Group, said: "Customer engagement is one of the areas where we see significant potential for AI. It can help businesses better understand customer needs and improve product recommendations, creating new opportunities to enhance both conversion and service experiences. We have also had the opportunity to work with Tencent WorkBuddy, and its flexibility, user experience and support capabilities have enabled our teams to explore AI adoption more effectively." The platform battle against Alibaba. The aggressive push into merchant operations pits Tencent directly against Alibaba Group's cloud and DingTalk ecosystem across Greater China. While Alibaba dominates pure-play e-commerce marketplaces like Taobao and Tmall, Tencent controls private-domain traffic where brands cultivate direct shopper relationships through bespoke Mini Programs. Brand operators increasingly favor private-domain channels because customer acquisitions carry lower marketplace take-rates. For consumer brands, committing to proprietary cloud agents locks enterprise data deep inside Tencent's walled garden. Shifting between competing cloud environments becomes punitive once product catalogs, customer service histories and design archives run on platform-specific models. Retailers gain rapid workflow speed today at the price of long-term software dependency tomorrow. Measuring actual returns on automation. Chinese consumer spending has remained selective throughout the year, forcing retail executives to audit back-office overhead and technology spending closely. Multinationals and domestic retail giants, including Decathlon China, Estee Lauder Group and toy maker Pop Mart, have increasingly trimmed speculative software experiments in favor of tools that cut headcount costs or lift repeat store visits. Tencent began assembling its smart retail unit in 2018 to bridge social messaging with physical store sales counters. The group spent earlier iterations refining digital payment terminals and loyalty program Mini Programs for department stores and supermarket chains across tier-one Chinese cities. This latest enterprise suite represents the next operational tier: replacing manual design, coding and inventory forecasting with automated agents. Merchant adoption rates for tools such as Miora and Ardot over the upcoming Golden Week and Lunar New Year retail peaks will provide the first real test of whether generative design can shave measurable weeks off corporate fashion and merchandising cycles. Questions & answers. Q. Which tools make up Tencent's new enterprise retail suite? A. The deployment introduces five specialised tools: WorkBuddy for workforce productivity, CodeBuddy for software development, DataBuddy for enterprise data workspaces, Miora for automated creative design, and Ardot for converting design assets into code. Q. How does the software integrate with shop floor operations? Q. Which commercial clients are currently deploying the technology? Q. What operational risks do brands face when committing to the platform? Reader pulse Does embedding AI tools into Tencent risk excessive vendor lock-in? 18,304 votes so far