AI4Bharat, an initiative of IIT Madras, is a groundbreaking project that aims to bring parity with respect to English in AI technologies for Indian languages. This ambitious endeavor was officially launched on 28th July at IIT Madras, marking the beginning of a new era in Indian language technology.

Mission and Impact Axes

AI4Bharat’s mission is to level the playing field for Indian languages in the realm of AI technologies. They aim to achieve this through open-source contributions in datasets, models, and applications, and by fostering an innovation ecosystem.

The initiative has identified four key impact axes:

1. Data: Curating and creating the largest public datasets and benchmarks across various tasks and 22 Indian languages.
2. AI Models: Building state-of-the-art, open, foundational AI models across tasks and 22 Indian languages.
3. Applications: Designing and deploying reference applications with partners to demonstrate the potential of open AI models.
4. Ecosystem: Enabling researchers, startups, and government to innovate on Indian language AI tech with educational material and workshops.

Tools, Models, and Sponsors

AI4Bharat showcases the different tools and models developed under the initiative. Each tool leverages the different models and APIs developed by AI4Bharat, while the models feature various areas that users can try out in real-time.

The initiative is generously supported by several sponsors. Nandan Nilekani, as the primary sponsor, has contributed to the formation of the “Nilekani center at AI4Bharat” with a focus on open-source language tech as a public good. Microsoft’s Research Lab and India Development Center (IDC) have supported AI4Bharat with unrestricted research grants and by allocating time from researchers to contribute towards open-source technologies. The EkStep Foundation has also provided support with mentorship and software engineering to build and deploy open-source applications for Indian languages.

Team and Opportunities

AI4Bharat offers various opportunities for individuals interested in contributing to this groundbreaking initiative. They offer a 1-year residency program for recent graduates to work on cutting-edge research problems in NLP, Speech, and systems-engineering for AI. There is also a 1-semester internship program for current students to work on data and software engineering for language AI technologies. Long-term opportunities are available for experienced language translators and transcribers across Indian languages, as well as for front-end and back-end developers looking to contribute to building open-source applications for language technologies.

In the words of Vikram Sarabhai, “We must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society.” AI4Bharat is a testament to this sentiment, striving to apply advanced AI technologies to the real-world problem of language disparity in India.

Source: AI4Bharat