Microsoft, the prominent Big Tech developer, is expanding its presence in Asia by partnering with Indian startup Sarvam AI to bring its artificial intelligence (AI) products to the Indian market. According to a blog post by Microsoft on February 8, the company plans to incorporate Sarvam’s Indic voice large language model (LLM) into its Azure AI infrastructure. By leveraging Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and Machine Learning services, Sarvam will be able to host its LLMs, accelerate their training, and facilitate scaling. This move is in line with Microsoft’s commitment to promoting AI-driven growth and innovation in India.
Puneet Chandok, the president of Microsoft India and South Asia, expressed the company’s goal of supporting India in becoming an “AI-first nation.” Sarvam’s LLM is designed to handle inputs in Indic languages and context, enabling applications to be more precise and cost-effective in the Indian market. Initially, the LLM will offer a natural voice-based interface in Hindi, which is the most widely spoken language in India with approximately 609 million speakers.
Microsoft emphasized the importance of voice-based interfaces for generative AI applications in Indian languages. The partnership between Microsoft and Sarvam also aims to facilitate the quick and responsible adoption of generative AI by local businesses. In addition, Microsoft announced a skills initiative in India, with plans to provide AI training to two million individuals in the country by 2025.
Throughout the past year, Microsoft has prioritized the integration and development of AI in its overall expansion strategy. Its end-of-year earnings in 2023 showed an 18% increase compared to the previous year, which was attributed to the widespread use of AI across its technology stack. Microsoft’s valuation also exceeded $3 trillion, surpassing Apple as the most valuable publicly traded company. The company has recently formed partnerships with telecom provider Vodafone and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in the United States to focus on AI development for the workforce.
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