Cheap AI bots rapidly expand across India, transforming tech landscape

Earlier this month, executives from Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind, Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. joined tech founders in Bangalore to watch one of India’s top AI startups unveil a new product that might change how the world’s most populous country uses the technology.

Sarvam AI, often described as India’s OpenAI, introduced software for businesses that can interact with customers using spoken voice rather than just text. The technology was developed with data from 10 native Indian languages and priced at a rupee per minute to capture the market. In a video at the event, Vinod Khosla, a billionaire venture capitalist and investor in Sarvam, said, “These voice bots have the potential to reach a billion people.”