AI Voice Bots: Affordable AI voice bots are taking off among Indian businesses

Earlier this month, executives from Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind, Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. joined tech founders in Bangalore to see one of IndiaThe best AI Startups introduce a new product that could change the way the world’s most populous country uses technology.

Sarvam AI, often described as India’s OpenAI, introduced software for business that can interact with customers using spoken voice rather than just text. The technology was developed using data from 10 native Indian languages ​​and sold at one 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.”

In the nearly two years since ChatGPT launched, India has tried to keep pace with the global AI frenzy, but chatbots have often been limited by a lack of data on many of the country’s languages. Many people living in big cities can type directions to a chatbot in English, but most of India lacks the language skills to do so. Now, a growing number of startups are betting that voice bots built with local language data can reach a broader swath of India and perhaps even attract users from other countries.

In the process, these startups may turn India into a testing ground for what could be the next frontier of generative AI products, though it has raised some security concerns in other markets. By incorporating AI voice capabilities, the tech companies hope to create more dynamic conversational services that can respond to users verbally in real time and automate certain tasks. In India, that’s already being applied across a wide range of consumer and business applications.

Samsung-backed Gnani AI conducts millions of voice conversations daily for India’s largest banks, insurers and car companies. CoRover AI provides voice bots in 14 Indian languages ​​to the state railway corporation and a regional police force. And Haloocom Technologies’ voice bot can speak five Indian languages ​​to handle customer service tasks and help screen job candidates.

“The world has moved from digital to mobile and finally to AI, but voice is the most intuitive way to use technology,” said Ankush Sabharwal, Co-Founder and CEO of CoRover.

CoRover’s Ask Disha voice bot went live this month for Indian train booking company IRCTC. The bot can book train tickets and complete payments on behalf of a customer solely through voice. The country needs AI agents that can perform tasks, not just provide information, Sabharwal said. Gnani offers a bot to help lenders converse with potential customers to determine their financial needs, gather personal information and determine their eligibility for loans. The startup also works with one of India’s largest automakers, Company: Tata Motors Ltd.to get feedback on the latest car models and sell extended warranties and accessories.

Sarvam’s voice bots can handle conversations in multiple languages ​​and perform actions for customers, such as setting up appointments and facilitating payments. The company has about 50 clients, including Sri Mandir, a devotional app that has more than 10 million downloads on the Android Play Store.

Using Sarvam’s voice software, Sri Mandir’s app can guide people to specific rituals at different temples and how to ask for various types of blessings. “Try launching GPT-4 or Claude on Sri Mandir. I can guarantee it won’t work,” said Vivek Raghavan, co-founder of Sarvam, alluding to cutting-edge artificial intelligence models from OpenAI and Anthropic. American companies don’t have access to enough data on spoken Indian language, he said, including accents that vary from region to region.

Some of the top US AI companies, including OpenAI, have developed technology that can generate convincing voices, but have been slow to bring it to market. OpenAI recently warned that users could become emotionally dependent on its voice product and also said it had taken steps to prevent impersonations and the generation of copyrighted audio. The startup has begun rolling out new voice features to a limited number of users after a delay.

Despite concerns, Indian AI startups are optimistic about the technology. “AI designed for specific use cases, languages ​​and audiences is more accurate, less expensive to run and has greatly reduced hallucinations,” said Ganesh Gopalan, co-founder and CEO of Gnani, using a term that refers to AI systems that fabricate facts.

While these startups are focused on India, some also have their sights set on international markets, including the Middle East and Japan. In fact, Gnani’s voice bots are already deployed in Silicon Valley, helping a large California-based Harley-Davidson rental company reach Spanish-speaking customers.