What is AI4Bharat?

AI4Bharat is an initiative of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) with the mission to bring parity in AI technologies in Indian languages with respect to English. The center aims to do this by building open-source contributions to tools, data, models, and applications. AI4Bharat sees open resources for Indian language AI technologies as a digital public good (DPG).

History of AI4Bharat

AI4Bharat was founded in 2019 by a group of researchers from IIT Madras. The center was officially launched in July 2020 with a grant from the Government of India. AI4Bharat is currently led by Dr. V. Subrahmanian, a professor of computer science at IIT Madras.

Mission and Goals of AI4Bharat

The mission of AI4Bharat is to bring parity in AI technologies in Indian languages with respect to English. The center aims to do this by building open-source contributions to tools, data, models, and applications. AI4Bharat sees open resources for Indian language AI technologies as a digital public good (DPG).

The goals of AI4Bharat are to:

Build open-source tools and libraries for Indian language AI
Create large-scale datasets for Indian language AI
Develop state-of-the-art AI models for Indian languages
Deploy AI solutions for Indian language users

Activities of AI4Bharat

AI4Bharat is currently working on a number of projects to achieve its mission and goals. Some of the center’s activities include:

Building open-source tools and libraries for Indian language AI
Creating large-scale datasets for Indian language AI
Developing state-of-the-art AI models for Indian languages
Deploying AI solutions for Indian language users

Impact of AI4Bharat

AI4Bharat has already had a significant impact on the field of Indian language AI. The center has released a number of open-source tools and libraries that are being used by researchers and developers around the world. AI4Bharat has also created large-scale datasets for Indian language AI, which are helping to advance the state of the art in the field. In addition, AI4Bharat is working with a number of partners to deploy AI solutions for Indian language users.

Future of AI4Bharat

AI4Bharat is committed to continuing its work to bring parity in AI technologies in Indian languages with respect to English. The center plans to continue building open-source tools and libraries, creating large-scale datasets, developing state-of-the-art AI models, and deploying AI solutions for Indian language users. AI4Bharat believes that AI has the potential to transform the lives of millions of Indians, and the center is committed to working towards that goal.

Here are some examples of the impact that AI4Bharat has already had:

AI4Bharat has released a number of open-source tools and libraries for Indian language AI, including a machine translation toolkit, a speech recognition toolkit, and a natural language processing toolkit. These tools are being used by researchers and developers around the world to build AI solutions for Indian languages.
AI4Bharat has created large-scale datasets for Indian language AI, including a dataset of Indian text, a dataset of Indian speech, and a dataset of Indian code. These datasets are helping to advance the state of the art in the field of Indian language AI.
AI4Bharat is working with a number of partners to deploy AI solutions for Indian language users. For example, AI4Bharat is working with the Government of India to develop an AI-powered system for translating government documents into Indian languages.

Here are some of the challenges that AI4Bharat faces:

One of the biggest challenges that AI4Bharat faces is the lack of data. There is a limited amount of data available for Indian languages, which makes it difficult to train AI models.
Another challenge that AI4Bharat faces is the lack of resources. AI4Bharat is a small center, and it does not have the same resources as larger AI centers in the United States and Europe.
Finally, AI4Bharat faces the challenge of cultural diversity. India is a very diverse country, and there are many different languages and cultures. This makes it difficult to develop AI solutions that are suitable for all Indian users.

Despite the challenges, AI4Bharat is making significant progress in bringing parity in AI technologies in Indian languages with respect to English. The center is committed to continuing its work, and it believes that AI has the potential to transform the lives of millions of Indians.