The AI era is flourishing, with new AI tools joining the race. However, take ChatGPT, DeepSeek, or any other AI language model; none of them are made in India. So, where’s India in this increasing competition? As the Chinese AI farm, DeepSeek launched the free AI assistant last week and moved forward strongly in this competitive world of AI tools, Indians started inquiring about the 2024 promised Ola Krutrim by the Ola cab CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.
AI is continuously taking over the world. In this AI race, India didn’t really participate before the concept of Ola Krutrim came to light. It’s not long before the Ola Cab CEO places his idea and becomes one of India’s first AI startups. It’s not even a year since Aggarwal's AI startup Krutrim became India’s first AI unicorn and raised $50 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation.
This happened in January 2024. The idea and the presentation were overwhelming. However, the problem started when the AI model was launched. As soon as it went live, users started reporting that this AI model provided wrong responses to most user queries.
Initially, the founder talked about a lot of plans regarding this AI startup, like building AI chips, AI-driven maps, and LLMs. He even raised money on that basis, but a few setbacks destroyed him. Since then, there’s been no news of Bhavish Aggarwal or Krutrim.
The DeepSeek buzz is all over the world. The more DeepSeek is gaining popularity; the more Indians are trolling the Ola CEO and his AI startup. On X (formerly Twitter), tech enthusiasts from India are going wild with their sarcastic comments asking about the present state of Krutrim. A lot of X users asked, “What's the progress of Ola Krutrim again?”
One user, Mathayi, took this discussion to a new height by mentioning, “Meanwhile our prestigious Krutrim! At least please turn off this thing to save from further embarrassment!”
On a serious note, a lot of Indians are really worried about India’s current stand on this AI development front. When China is progressing gloriously in tech, what are Indian developers doing?
Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has stated that in India, AI models are developing at a great speed. In a press meeting, he revealed, “Over the last 1.5 years, our teams have been working closely with startups, researchers, professors, etc. Today, we are calling for proposals to develop our own foundational model. The model will take care of the Indian context, languages, and culture, are devoid of biases.”
As per his expectations, India will be able to release new AI models in the next 10 months to mark a big milestone in the country’s journey toward creating AI models. The framework is done, the time is only required to satisfy the different requirements of Indian users.