(Bloomberg) — Executives from Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind, Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. joined tech founders in Bangalore earlier this month to watch a major Indian AI startup unveil a new product that could change how technology is used in the world’s most populous country.
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Sarvam AI, also called India's version of Open AI, has launched software for businesses to interact with customers through voice as well as text. The technology has been developed using data in 10 Indian languages and is being sold at 1 rupee per minute to capture the market. “These voice bots have the potential to reach a billion people,” said Vinod Khosla, billionaire venture capitalist and Sarvam investor, in a video from the event.
India has been trying to keep up with the global artificial intelligence boom for almost two years since ChatGPT launched, but chatbots have often been limited by a lack of data for many of the country's languages. While many who live in big cities can prompt chatbots in English, most in India don't have the language skills to do so. Now, a growing number of startups are betting that voice bots built with local language data can reach a wider range in India and maybe even appeal to users in other countries.
In the process, these startups could turn India into a proving ground for what could be the next frontier for generative AI products, even as it raises safety concerns in other markets. By incorporating AI voice capabilities, tech companies hope to create more dynamic conversational services that can respond to users in real time via voice and automate certain tasks. In India, this is already happening across a wide range of consumer and business applications.
Samsung-backed Gnani AI runs millions of voice conversations every day for India's leading banks, insurers and automobile companies, CoRover AI provides voice bots in 14 Indian languages to the national railways and local police forces, and Haloocom Technologies' voice bots can speak five Indian languages to assist with customer service tasks and screening job candidates.
“The world has shifted from digital-first to mobile-first to AI-first, and voice is the most intuitive way to consume technology,” said Ankush Sabharwal, co-founder and CEO of CoRover.
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CoRover's Ask Disha voice bot went live this month for Indian train booking company IRCTC. The bot can book train tickets and complete payments on behalf of customers using only voice. India needs AI agents that can perform tasks, not just provide information, Sabharwal said.
Gnani provides bots that help lenders talk to potential customers to understand their financial needs, collect personal details and determine loan eligibility. The startup has also partnered with Tata Motors Ltd, one of India's largest automakers, to collect feedback on the latest car models and sell extended warranties and accessories.
Survam's voice bots can handle mixed-language conversations and take actions on customers' behalf, such as setting up appointments or facilitating payments. The company has around 50 clients, including religious app Sri Mandir, which has been downloaded more than 10 million times on the Android Play Store. Using Survam's voice software, Sri Mandir's app can guide people through specific rituals at different temples and how to ask for different types of blessings. “Try throwing GPT-4 or Claude at Sri Mandir, I guarantee it won't work,” Survam co-founder Vivek Raghavan said, referring to cutting-edge AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic. He said U.S. companies don't have enough access to spoken data for Indian languages, including regional accents.
Some of the big U.S. AI companies, including OpenAI, have developed technology that can generate convincing voices, but they have been slow to bring it to market. OpenAI recently warned that users could become emotionally dependent on its voice products and said it had taken steps to prevent spoofing or the generation of copyrighted voices. After some delays, the company has begun rolling out its new voice capabilities to a limited number of users.
Despite the concerns, Indian AI startups are optimistic about the technology: “AI tailored for specific use cases, languages and audiences is more accurate, has lower operational costs and suffers from significantly fewer hallucinations,” said Ganesh Gopalan, co-founder and CEO of Gnani, using a term referring to AI systems fabricating facts.
While these startups are focused on India, some are also looking at international markets, including the Middle East and Japan. In fact, Gnani's voice bot has already been deployed in Silicon Valley's backyard, helping a major California-based Harley-Davidson leasing company reach Spanish-speaking customers.
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