The work will support Indic languages translation, transliteration and speech recognition. The AI models will work to understand and generate Indian languages. Along with this, the initiative will further work to understand 10 sign languages from all over the world.

Nilekani Centre at AI4Bharat is jointly supported by Nandan and Rohini Nilekani( (Representational Image / ANI Photo))

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ANI | ByHT News Desk | Edited by Singh Rahul Sunilkumar

The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has launched a centre for the advancement of Indian language technology, with a financial grant of ?36 crore from the non-profit organisation Nilekani Philanthropies.

"IIT-Madras launches ‘Nilekani Centre at AI4Bharat’ to advance the state of Indian language technology to create societal impact. It was inaugurated by Shri. Nandan Nilekani at @ai4bharat, an @iitmadras initiative to build open-source language AI for Indian vernaculars," the premier technical institute tweeted.

It was inaugurated at the IIT Madras campus by the co-founder of IT services major Infosys Nandan Nilekani. It is unitedly supported by his wife, noted author and philanthropist, Rohini Nilekani.

“The Digital India Bhashini mission has been launched with the goal of all services and information being available to citizens in their own language with ‘collaborative AI’ at the core of the design. AI4Bharat will further contribute to and accelerate the Indic language AI work as a public good and is fully aligned with the goals of the Bhashini mission,” ANI quoted Nandan Nilekani.

A workshop open to students, researchers, and startups was held to discuss the resources available to build Indian language technologies.

“I am happy that IIT Madras is taking a leadership role in Indian language AI which is of national importance. I am looking forward to AI4Bharat’s cutting-edge research being translated to real-world use,” said V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras.

AI4Bharat initiative aims to ‘bring parity with respect to English in AI technologies for Indian languages with open-source contributions in datasets, models, and applications and by enabling an innovation ecosystem’. The work will support Indic languages translation, transliteration and speech recognition, the website said.

The AI models will work to understand and generate Indian languages. Along with this, the initiative will further work to understand ten sign languages from all over the world.

IITs have been at the vanguard of innovation and attracted a lot of grants and contributions from industries and various other stakeholders.

(With inputs from ANI)