In a significant stride towards democratizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) across India, Sarvam AI, an Indian startup specializing in generative AI models, has announced a groundbreaking collaboration with Microsoft. This partnership aims to make Sarvam AI’s Indic voice large language model (LLM) available on Azure, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, signaling a concerted effort to revolutionize AI-driven growth and innovation in the Indian subcontinent.
Sarvam AI is at the forefront of developing generative AI models tailored specifically for Indic languages and contextual nuances. The startup’s mission is clear: to streamline the development and deployment of generative AI applications in India, making them more precise and cost-effective than ever before.
The cornerstone of this collaboration is Sarvam AI’s Indic voice LLM, designed to offer a seamless voice-based interface to large language models, with an initial focus on Hindi. However, the startup’s ambitions extend beyond Hindi, as it endeavors to broaden its coverage to encompass more Indian languages while ensuring compatibility with colloquial language usage.
Pratyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam AI, expressed his enthusiasm about the collaboration, emphasizing how it aligns with the company’s vision of inclusivity encapsulated in the Sanskrit term ‘Sarvam,’ meaning ‘all.’ Kumar believes that this partnership with Microsoft will amplify the reach of advanced AI technologies across diverse Indian languages and sectors.
Voice interaction stands out as one of the most intuitive interfaces for generative AI applications in Indian languages, holding immense potential across various sectors including education, finance, healthcare, and customer service. By integrating Sarvam AI’s Indic voice LLM with Azure, Microsoft aims to empower Indian developers to create real-time, voice-driven generative AI applications at scale, laying a robust foundation for innovation and growth.
Moreover, the collaboration between Sarvam AI and Microsoft extends beyond facilitating individual developers. Both companies are committed to assisting enterprises in adopting generative AI swiftly and responsibly. Vivek Raghavan, co-founder of Sarvam AI, highlights the synergies between Sarvam AI’s deep-tech expertise and Microsoft’s leadership in frontier models, particularly the Copilot stack, to enable enterprises to harness the full potential of generative AI.
Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud and AI infrastructure, including Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Machine Learning, will serve as the backbone for Sarvam AI’s training, hosting, and scaling of LLMs, ensuring rapid and efficient deployment. Furthermore, the collaboration entails joint research efforts to enhance support for Indian languages in Microsoft’s Generative AI frontier language models and deploy them effectively at scale.
Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India & South Asia, underscores Microsoft’s commitment to democratizing AI and fostering India’s transformation into an AI-first nation. Chandok emphasizes that through this collaboration, Microsoft is not only endorsing homegrown innovation but also paving the way for a future where every individual, regardless of language or background, can leverage the power of voice-driven AI solutions to achieve more significant outcomes.
In essence, the collaboration between Sarvam AI and Microsoft represents a pivotal moment in India’s AI landscape, marking a significant step towards democratizing AI and fostering inclusive innovation that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers. As both companies join forces to empower developers, enterprises, and communities across India, they are poised to redefine the possibilities of AI-driven growth and transformation in the region.