On Friday, Sarvam, an Indian AI startup dedicated to developing models for regional languages and users, introduced its Indus chat application for both web and mobile platforms. This move marks its entry into a rapidly expanding market primarily controlled by international competitors like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.
This introduction unfolds as India has emerged as a pivotal arena for the widespread implementation of generative AI. Supporting this, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, recently disclosed that ChatGPT boasts over 100 million users engaging weekly in India. Furthermore, Anthropic reported that India represents 5.8% of overall Claude consumption, surpassed solely by the U.S.
The Indus application functions as a conversational platform for Sarvam’s freshly revealed 105B model, which is the firm’s extensive 105-billion-parameter large language model. This application’s debut follows two days subsequent to Sarvam, headquartered in Bengaluru, unveiling its 105B and 30B models at the India AI Impact Summit, which took place in New Delhi earlier in the current week. During the summit, the startup also delineated corporate strategies and hardware blueprints, alongside declaring collaborations with firms such as HMD, aiming to integrate AI into Nokia feature phones, and Bosch, for AI-powered automotive uses.
At present, accessible in its test phase on iOS, Android, and the web, the Indus application enables users to input questions via typing or voice and obtain replies in both written and auditory formats. Individuals can log in via their mobile number, Google profile, or Apple identification, nonetheless, the utility is seemingly restricted to India for the time being.
The application presently exhibits a few restrictions. Users are unable to erase their conversation record without deactivating their profile, and there is an absence of a function to disable the application’s reasoning capability, a factor that can occasionally impede reply speeds. Sarvam has furthermore cautioned that entry might be curtailed as the company progressively augments its processing power.
“We’re progressively deploying Indus on a constrained processing capability, consequently, you might initially encounter a waiting list. We intend to broaden availability progressively,” Sarvam co-founder Pratyush Kumar posted on X, further noting that the firm is soliciting input from its clientele.
To date, Sarvam, established in 2023, has secured $41 million from backers, among whom are Lightspeed Venture Partners, Peak XV Partners, and Khosla Ventures, while developing extensive language models specifically adapted for India.
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Sarvam stands as part of a modest yet expanding contingent of Indian startups striving to forge indigenous substitutes for international artificial intelligence systems, in line with India’s pursuit of enhanced command over its AI framework.
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