At Nasscom’s technology and leadership summit 2024, BharatGPT (an IIT Bombay initiative) in collaboration with its GPU buddy Vizzhy, introduced a new generative AI called “Hanooman,” driven by the virtue of leveraging technological power for the greater public good rather than personal gain.
Collaborating with Indian IIT Bombay, the Hanooman project is poised to democratise AI for India. One of its primary objectives is to make AI accessible to non-English speakers.
The first four open-source models in the series (1.5 billion, 7 billion, 13 billion, and 40 billion parameters) are set to be released next month. Being multimodal, the models will be able to converse in 11 languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Marathi. The initiative aims to extend language support to all 22 official languages of India in future.
Vishnu Vardhan, chief of Vizzhy, threw light on the stark economic contrast between Boston and Mumbai, emphasising the critical role of a science-driven ecosystem in fostering economic prosperity. The initiative has evolved to include collaboration with seven IITs to create a sustainable and innovation-centric AI ecosystem in India.
By expanding the reach of AI in indic languages and fostering inclusivity, the project aims to contribute significantly to the country’s technological advancement and economic development.
“We have to depend on English for a lot of things,” explained Vardhan in an earlier conversation with AIM, that when it comes to science and healthcare, we are bound to look at it from an English lens, which becomes a huge barrier for research in India as 80% of the people are not proficient in the language. “People look at English just as another language, but they think in their native language.”
Echoing similar thoughts, Ganesh Ramakrishnan, an IIT Bombay professor who is leading the BharatGPT initiative said that there is definitely a need for a foundational model for Indic languages. “Mistral got France on the AI map. We want India to get on the AI map with BharatGPT,” he told AIM.
The overarching goal is to empower individuals and communities, transcending linguistic barriers and bridging the gap in AI usage.
