Sarvam, other startups likely have models ready ahead of IndiaAI Summit: Meity secretary

MeitY secretary S Krishnan

• Sarvam, others to showcase AI at India AI Impact Summit in February
• Sarvam's model aims for reasoning, voice tasks, and Indian language fluency
• Gnani.ai creating a multilingual, emotionally aware voice-first AI system

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Bengaluru-based artificial intelligence startup Sarvam, along with one or two more applicants, is likely to be ready with its foundational model ahead of the India AI Impact Summit, which is scheduled for February 15–20, ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) secretary S Krishnan said.

In an interview to Moneycontrol, Krishnan said the government is "hoping" to have multiple foundational model applicants ready to be showcased at the summit.

"Sarvam will hopefully be ready by then. One or two more also we hope will be ready," he said.

When asked about delays surrounding development of the models, Krishnan played down the concerns. He said development of large-scale AI models involved iterations and back-and-forth, and that models will be made public once they are fully ready.

"These things go back and forth. Once they are ready, they will come out," he added.

Also read: AI Edge special: India AI Impact Summit Is about outcomes, not investment pledges, says MeitY Secretary S Krishnan

Founded in July 2023 by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, Sarvam was the first startup to have been approved by the government for development of AI model under the IndiaAI Mission.

The model is aimed at reasoning, support voice-based tasks and to work fluently across Indian languages.

Another startup approved under the IndiaAI Mission which is likely also to be ready with its foundational model ahead of the summit is Gnani.ai, CEO Ganesh Gopalan said.

The startup is developing a voice-first, multilingual, and "emotionally intelligent" AI system.

A total of 12 startups and consortium have been selected across two phases under the IndiaAI Mission to develop indigenous foundational AI models.

They also include Soket AI, Gan AI, Avataar.ai, Bharatgen (an IIT Bombay-led consortium), Fractal Analytics, Tech Mahindra's Makers Lab, Zeintech (ZenteiQ.ai), Genloop Intelligence, NeuroDX (Intellihealth) and Shodh AI.