Microsoft, Nandan Nilekani-Backed Indian Group Working on Accessibility-Focused AI Assistant Jugalbandi Bot

The bot uses language models from AI4Bharat and artificial intelligence tech through Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service.

By Reuters | Updated: 24 May 2023 14:02 IST

Microsoft, Nandan Nilekani-Backed Indian Group Working on Accessibility-Focused AI Assistant Jugalbandi Bot

Photo Credit: Reuters

Microsoft said the bot could help bridge the language barrier in India

Highlights

The bot can understand questions in 10 Indian languages
It will operate over Meta Platforms-owned WhatsApp messaging service
Like Google's Bard, Microsoft's Bing, Jugalbandi can face accuracy issues

An Indian research group backed by Microsoft and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is using generative AI, the technology behind chatbot sensation ChatGPT, for a mobile assistant that aims to make information on government schemes accessible in multiple languages.

The Jugalbandi bot, named after a duet where two musicians riff off each other, uses language models from government-backed AI4Bharat and artificial intelligence tech through Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service.

Operating over Meta Platforms-owned WhatsApp messaging service, the bot can understand questions in 10 Indian languages and retrieves information that is usually written in English on government websites to relay it in local languages.

Google-Backed AI Startup Anthropic Raises $450 Million in Funding

Microsoft said the bot could help bridge the language barrier in India where English is spoken by just 11 percent of the 1.4 billion population, citing examples where it helped a student get a scholarship and a farmer apply for pension for his parents.

There are, however, some accuracy issues.

Like Google's Bard and Microsoft-owned Bing, Jugalbandi can sometimes deliver answers that seem convincing but are made up - a tendency that has been called hallucination.

Microsoft Brings Upgrades to ChatGPT, Bing in Expansive AI Product Launch

Jugalbandi's application is also limited by a lack of data as organizations often do not have either the bandwidth or expertise in building data pipelines to feed to the bot.

"Sometimes these models do make errors. They are probabilistic machines," said Pratyush Kumar, co-principal investigator at AI4Bharat and a principal researcher at Microsoft Research India.

He added that AI4Bharat is trying to resolve such issues by seeking feedback from organizations such as Gram Vaani, a Delhi-based social enterprise that closely works with farmers.

Google Says It Will Test Ads in Its Generative AI-Powered Search Results

Google I/O 2023 saw the search giant repeatedly tell us that it cares about AI, alongside the launch of its first foldable phone and Pixel-branded tablet. This year, the company is going to supercharge its apps, services, and Android operating system with AI technology. We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.