AI is everywhere now. Ask it a question, get an answer. Need help writing? It’s like magic. For businesses, creators, and students, it’s become a go-to tool.
But here’s the thing: that magic doesn’t work the same for everyone.
If you’re a farmer in Tamil Nadu or a small shopkeeper in rural Bihar, AI isn’t quite as helpful. Not because the tech isn’t good—but because it doesn’t understand how you speak. Most tools are trained in English. The moment you slip into your native tongue, the system falls apart.
And just like that, you’re locked out.
The Language Gap
India has more than 1.4 billion people and over 20 official languages. But when it comes to AI, most models are still English-first. Even when they support Indian languages, it’s often shallow. A few phrases, maybe a translation here or there—but the nuance? Gone.
So while AI is changing the world, millions of Indians are left behind. That’s the gap Sarvam AI is working to close.
Sarvam AI: Built for India
Founded in 2023 by AI researchers Dr. Pratyush Kumar and Dr. Vivek Raghavan, Sarvam AI is building AI that actually understands how India speaks.
In October 2024, they launched Sarvam-1—a language model trained on real Indian conversations, across ten major Indian languages and English. It wasn’t just built to be big, but useful. It can handle regional expressions, code-switching, and the informal, everyday way people talk.
They trained it using India’s most powerful AI supercomputer through a partnership with Yotta Data Services, and scaled it with NVIDIA’s NeMo platform. The result? Sarvam-1 is already outperforming bigger global models like Meta’s LLaMA on Indian languages.
Real-World Impact
Sarvam didn’t stop at the model. They’ve built a platform for developers and businesses to create tools like voice assistants, chatbots, and customer support systems that actually work in local languages—right out of the box.
That means:
- Farmers getting crop advice in Tamil
- Shopkeepers handling queries in Marathi
- Students learning in their mother tongue
This isn’t just inclusion. It’s practical access to a tool that, until now, only a small slice of the population has been able to benefit from.
Why It Matters
Language isn’t just communication. It’s culture, identity, opportunity. If AI is the future, it has to speak to everyone—not just those fluent in English.
Sarvam AI is building that future. One where AI doesn’t just translate Indian languages—it speaks them, fluently.
Because smart tech isn’t really smart unless everyone can use it.
Also Read: The Startup Fixing India’s Broken Food Supply Chain
