Indian Startup Sarvam Introduces Indus Chatbot Based on Its Own Language Model
Indian startup Sarvam, developing AI models for local languages and users, introduced the Indus chatbot. The company is entering a market where OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are already competing.
What is Known
Previously, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated that ChatGPT has over 100 million weekly active users in India. Anthropic reported that the country accounts for 5.8% of global Claude usage, making it the second biggest after the U.S.
Indus is powered by Sarvam's new large language model 105B with 105 billion parameters. The application presentation took place two days after the company showcased the 105B and 30B models at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. At that time, the startup also announced partnerships with HMD to integrate AI into Nokia feature phones and with Bosch for automotive solutions.
The application is available in beta on iOS, Android, and in the browser. Users can enter queries by text or voice and receive responses in text and audio formats. Access is possible via phone number or Google, Microsoft, or Apple accounts. Currently, the service likely operates only in India.
Among the limitations is the inability to delete chat history without deleting the account and the absence of an option to turn off reasoning mode, which might affect response speed. Sarvam warns that access will expand gradually due to limited computational resources.
Founded in 2023, the company has already raised $41 million in investments and positions itself as a developer of a national alternative to global AI platforms.
Source: Sarvam
