Bhashini Launches ‘Be our Sahayogi’ for Multilingual AI Innovation Focused on Voice

Bhashini in collaboration with Nasscom has launched the "Be our Sahayogi" program on National Technology Day to crowdsource multilingual AI problem statements. Organisations are invited to submit their ideas for "Reimagining the User Journey" as a "Multilingual User Journey."

Amitabh Nag, CEO of Bhashini, said, “‘Voice first’ is the way to actually make a difference and bridge the Digital and Literacy divide besides Transcending the language Barrier.”

Bhashini launched a crowdsourcing initiative to collect voice and text data in multiple Indian languages called Bhasha Daan. “It’s performing well, but not meeting our initial expectations. We plan to run a campaign to build this up further,” Nag told AIM, when asked about its status.

The partnership between Nasscom and BHASHINI aims to develop, deploy, and enhance solutions to transform society. The collaboration seeks to revolutionise the Bhartiya Bhashaien ecosystem through innovative technology.

“Bhashini will definitely change lives because people will be more collaborative, cooperative, and innovative, without the burden of trying to learn more languages,” added Nag.

This initiative aims to foster innovation and creativity, driving the development of new technologies and solutions for the Bhartiya Bhashaien community. By prioritising voice as a medium, the partnership will promote innovation, collaboration, and empowerment. Joint hackathons and innovation challenges will provide a platform for entrepreneurs and innovators to showcase their talents.

In an interview with AIM, Ankit Bose, head of AI at Nasscom, said, “Bhashini is a very good start and the government has done a phenomenal job at this. It is one of the most important tasks, as we can increase the whole country’s productivity, including people who don’t speak English,” talking about collecting Indic data.