Ola announces fellowship program for AI researchers at IIT Bombay

Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and CEO of Ola, Ola Electric (Illustration: Moneycontrol)

Bhavish Aggarwal-led Ola, which recently forayed into the Artificial Intelligence (AI) space, on February 4 announced the launch of technology fellowship program for AI researchers at IIT Bombay.

This program will span across engineering disciplines, welcoming students from top institutions nationwide, the firm said in a media statement.

“Today, India is at the ground zero of a massive technological revolution. And we, at Ola, will do everything it takes to develop a robust talent pool and future technologies out of India, for the world," said Ola founder and chairman Bhavish Aggarwal, who is also an alumnus of IIT Bombay.

The Ola Technology Fellowship program is designed to identify, support, and mentor graduates who exhibit exceptional potential in their disciplines, the statement said.

"The fellowship program for AI researchers at IIT Bombay will foster a conducive ecosystem for students. From fundamental research in computing and AI to gaining real-world experience, the program will empower students with research projects, internships, seminars, and conferences," the statement said.

Krutrim AI

Aggarwal's new venture Krutrim recently announced turning a unicorn after raising nearly $50 million in funding led by Matrix Partners.

Krutrim, which means "artificial" in Sanskrit, aims to focus on building the entire AI computing stack. In December 2023, the company unveiled its first family of multilingual large language models (LLM), also called Krutrim.

Trained by a team of computer scientists, based in Bengaluru and San Francisco, the large language model will be available in two different sizes: a base model named Krutrim base, and a larger, more complex model called Krutrim Pro.

Also Read: Bhavish Aggarwal's AI startup Krutrim turns unicorn after raising $50 million

AI Talent in Demand

Several top companies within India and globally have said that there is a huge demand for artificial intelligence talent.

Shortage of deep tech talent which includes expertise in sectors like AI, machine learning (ML) and advanced computing may impede the fast growth of India’s enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) firms, said a report published by industry body Nasscom in collaboration with auditing and consulting firm EY.

Also Read: Unavailability of deep tech talent may affect growth of Indian B2B SaaS firms: Report

Ola's announcement comes weeks after Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) alumnus Sunil Wadhwani announced on January 30 an endowment of Rs 110 crore to set up the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI in the college.