Several people+ai initiatives aimed at identifying, showcasing, and sharing population-scale AI application cases for India were launched at the event. Commencing on the same day, the Open Cloud Compute (OCC) program was introduced, further demonstrating its dedication to transparent and easily accessible solutions. By creating an open network for computing resources, the OCC hopes to meet the increasing need for AI infrastructure and promote healthy competition in the industry.
Nilekani, an Infosys co-founder, has led the nation’s enormous unique identity initiative. He elaborated on this picture of AI during his speech at the occasion, projecting how it might alter the direction of the sector. India has a distinct strategy to producing technology on a large scale. At the Adbhut India launch, Nilekani stated, “We have successfully unbundled the building blocks to create population-scale digital public infrastructure for identity, payments, and education.”
We observe that the world is acknowledging India’s technological innovations. I think it’s time to rethink AI, make it useful for empowering everyone, and find applications specific to India. According to Nilekani, AI will assist in lowering barriers and personalizing at scale.
The head of people+ai, Tanuj Bhojwani, promoted the development and application of AI in India using a use-case-driven methodology. He emphasized that India’s distinct advantages—a sizable youth population with access to the internet and a strong public digital infrastructure—can be leveraged to create effective AI solutions.
India, more than any other nation, has a varied population that uses digital public infrastructures (DPIs) in their daily lives, which is why Bhojwani emphasized the country’s need for AI. AI is going to be very important in education and entertainment because of the youth of the population. India will become the global hub for AI use cases since we currently consume more mobile data than anyone else in the world. This paves the way for an AI-powered Adbhut India, in which humans and technology collaborate to advance society. People+AI aims to facilitate this kind of Adbhut India, according to Bhojwani.
According to Shankar Maruwada, co-founder and CEO of EkStep Foundation, using AI’s beneficial potential to address problems specific to India’s diversity is a crucial transformational opportunity that shouldn’t be passed up. According to Maruwada, “India is uniquely positioned to make a meaningful difference by ensuring that the newest innovations and technology are accessible and equitable for everyone.”
Real-world uses of AI
A showcase of AI-driven community projects headed by well-known individuals, such as Nikhil Kumar (Setu), Jagadish Babu (EkStep Foundation), Charu Chadha (Rockefeller Foundation), Sunayana Sitaram (Microsoft Research), and Rahul Deora (Fynd), was also included in the event. These projects demonstrated the various ways AI may be used to solve problems in the real world.
AI-powered community leaders unveiled solutions that support the goal of “Making an Adbhut India.” Introducing Sesame, India’s first Large Language Model (LLM) created specifically for the banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) industry, is Nikhil Kumar, co-founder of the fintech startup Setu. According to Kumar, the innovation, which was created in association with the domestic AI research company Sarvam AI, represents a “ChatGPT moment” in the financial services industry.
Fynd’s machine learning lead, Rahul Deora, demonstrated the release of BharatDiffusion v2. An AI model called BharatDiffusion uses diffusion to produce visuals that capture the rich cultural diversity of India. It is trained on a vast archive of Indian images to generate realistic, high-quality images that highlight the variety of the nation.
Your own AI server, JOHNAIC, was introduced by Sasank Chilamkurthy, inventor of Von Neumann AI and former chief technology officer (CTO) of Qure.ai. AI expenditures will be reduced by 85% with this “cloud in a box” approach, which requires a one-time investment. Additionally, it democratizes access to AI by including built-in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and AI tools for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and startups. The first user of this product is people+ai from EkStep Foundation, which uses it for its own AI needs while protecting user privacy.
AI-powered startups
Sarvam.ai is an Indian start-up that focuses on foundational AI. Pratyush Kumar, one of the founders, presented their platform, which lets businesses create voice-enabled agentic AI systems in Indian languages.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) founder Harsh Parikh discussed the results of a pilot survey he conducted to show how he uses the Jan Ki Baat AI framework to gather qualitative feedback from patients at the M Kashiram Hospital in Kanpur. DRiefcase is the largest personal health records app in India. The survey’s goal is to shorten hospital patient wait times, and it concentrated on the ABDM Scan and Share module. It may eventually be used to send public comments straight from hospitals to health ministries.
On their OTT platform, co-founder of STAGE Harsh Mani Tripathi debuted India’s first AI voice agent based on the Haryanvi dialect. This AI bot establishes emotional connections with users in Haryanvi in addition to providing technical support. With more than 1.2 million paying members, STAGE, an entertainment platform catering to regional Indian cultures in India and serving the Haryanvi and Rajasthani communities, has just generated a profit. Leading a new era of client involvement, STAGE prioritizes cultural preservation while validating, reaffirming, and celebrating local identities.
Shankar Maruwada, Rohini Nilekani, and Nandan Nilekani formed the EkStep Foundation. The foundation wants to support ecosystems that create digital public goods, have a significant influence on billions of people, and push the boundaries of innovation.
