Sarvam AI Brings Indic Voice AI to Microsoft Azure

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Indian generative AI startup Sarvam AI has announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft to bring its Indic voice large language model (LLM) to the Azure platform. This partnership underscores Microsoft’s dedication to fostering AI-driven growth and innovation in India.

Sarvam AI specializes in building generative AI models tailored for Indic languages and contexts. The startup’s objective is to streamline the development and deployment of generative AI applications in India, making them more precise and cost-effective.

Initially, Sarvam AI’s Indic voice LLM will support Hindi, providing a natural voice-based interface to LLMs. The startup is actively working to expand coverage to include more Indian languages while ensuring support for colloquial language usage.

Pratyush Kumar, co-founder of Sarvam AI, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration with Microsoft, emphasizing their joint mission to make advanced AI accessible and impactful for all in India. Kumar stated that the partnership aligns with Sarvam AI’s vision of inclusivity, represented by the Sanskrit term “Sarvam,” meaning “all.”

Voice interfaces are particularly suited for generative AI applications in Indian languages and can find applications across various sectors such as education, finance, healthcare, and customer service. By integrating Sarvam AI’s Indic voice LLM into Azure, Microsoft aims to enable more developers in India to create real-time, voice-based generative AI applications at scale.

The collaboration extends beyond technology development; both companies will work together to assist enterprises in adopting generative AI solutions swiftly and responsibly. Vivek Raghavan, co-founder of Sarvam AI, highlighted the synergy between Sarvam AI’s deep-tech expertise and Microsoft’s leadership in frontier models and the Copilot stack, which aims to empower enterprises to succeed in generative AI adoption.

Sarvam AI will leverage Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud and AI infrastructure, including Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Machine Learning, to efficiently train, host, and scale its LLMs. Furthermore, Sarvam AI and Microsoft are jointly researching ways to enhance support for Indian languages in Microsoft’s Generative AI frontier language models and deploy them effectively at scale.

Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India & South Asia, reiterated Microsoft’s commitment to democratizing AI and supporting India’s journey towards becoming an AI-first nation. Chandok emphasized that through collaboration with Sarvam AI, Microsoft is not only nurturing indigenous innovation but also working towards a future where individuals from diverse linguistic backgrounds can leverage the power of voice-driven AI solutions to achieve more. Together, the partnership aims to empower India’s people, communities, and organizations to unlock their full potential through AI technology.