A Microsoft-backed startup, AI4Bharat is raising $12 million from venture capital firms Peak XV and Lightspeed Venture.
Sources privy to the development disclosed that AI4Bharat is also backed by the Indian government.
According to people familiar with the matter, the fund will be used to develop artificial intelligence-powered chatbots for Indian languages.
After OpenAI’s ChatGPT wowed users with its capacity for human-like discourse, a larger-than-usual seed financing round highlights the growing interest in generative AI.
The investment will be also be used to engage with government organisations to develop conversational bots and train its models on more data, an expensive undertaking for AI businesses.