Ola launches Krutrim, its own AI model

The co-founder and CEO of Ola, Bhavish Aggarwal has announced his latest project, Krutrim, a large language model. Touted as "India's first full-stack AI" solution, it has been built for Indians and India. Krutrim means "artificial" in Sanskrit. Krutrim is "an AI model of its own, built on local Indian knowledge, languages, and data." The model will come in two sizes – a base model and a larger, more advanced one called Krutrim Pro.   

The model can understand 20 Indian languages and can generate in 10 Indian languages, including Marathi, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Odiya, among others. According to Aggarwal, India needs to become a global leader in AI. 

"Today, all AI models, called LLM, are trained largely in English, but language is not just text. Language is also the vehicle for cultural values, context and ethos, and its current AI models just can't capture India's culture, knowledge, and aspirations given our multicultural, multilingual heritage," Aggarwal claimed. 

Aggarwal said there are very few moments in time when a technology comes along that can impact both the economy and culture profoundly, making us the most productive, efficient and empowered economy in the world. 

"An AI-first economy will push the Indian technology industry on a nonlinear path, and make it a Global Knowledge Centre. And an AI-first economy will make India a leader in scientific discovery. And (Krutrim) AI will be a tool for cultural expression, rather than assimilation into a single global paradigm. And with that vision, today, we introduce Krutrimm" Aggarwal said.