India’s AI language leap

INDIA’S linguistic diversity, with 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects, has limited digital access for millions. A multilingual AI revolution now bridges this gap, turning access into empowerment and redefining inclusion as dignity. As India hosts the India AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 15-20 in New Delhi, it aims to build an AI ecosystem empowering every citizen through multilingual, multi-access models, embodying ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. This ensures excluded groups participate in the digital future.

By bridging the technology divide, India is unlocking its demographic dividend and entrepreneurial potential. When people can dream, design and deliver solutions in their own language, innovation becomes truly bottom-up, powered by the many, not the privileged few. AI is revolutionising education, healthcare and governance.

Yet, a critical gap remains. Most AI systems are trained primarily in English and a few global languages, sidelining billions whose native tongues are underrepresented. In India, barely 10% of the population is fluent in English. For the vast majority, digital access alone does not equal digital inclusion. True empowerment begins when people can engage with technology in their own language. India's approach is, therefore, a global model, showing how AI can democratise the digital economy.

India's multilingual AI revolution is anchored in BHASHINI, the government's flagship initiative under the National Language Translation Mission. BHASHINI powers voice, text and video translation across more than 35 Indian languages using over 1,600 AI models. Integrated into platforms such as CPGRAMS for grievance redress, My Aadhaar for digital identity and services like the IRCTC and NPCI's IVRS systems, it enables citizens to engage in their own languages.

Complementing this are homegrown large language models (LLMs). They include Sarvam-M by Sarvam.ai, the first indigenous LLM supporting 11 Indian languages plus English, built with over 500 billion parameters for nuanced, context-aware interactions and AI4Bharat's IndicTrans and IndicBERT, covering all 22 scheduled languages for seamless translation and dialogue.

This ecosystem ensures that the promise of Digital India reaches the farmer, artisan, student and entrepreneur in every corner. As India's multilingual AI matures, it will enable millions of new creators, coders, innovators and problem-solvers, fuelling a new wave of vernacular innovation that reflects the real voice of Bharat.

Initiatives like Adi Vaani, the world's first AI-powered tribal language bridge, are preserving endangered languages and connecting indigenous communities to public services in their native tongues. Similarly, the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) uses BHASHINI to enable small businesses to create multilingual interfaces, expanding market access for MSMEs. These examples illustrate a universal truth — removing language barriers unlocks participation, fostering equitable economic and social empowerment.

The AI summit will focus on outcomes guided by three sutras: people, planet and progress. For multilingual AI, the summit recognises India's linguistic inclusion model as a global standard, emphasising the moral and technological responsibility to ensure AI speaks the full spectrum of languages. India stands not only as a technological leader but also as a champion of linguistic inclusion.

Its message to the world is clear — to empower people, speak to them in their language. Only then can we truly unlock the nation's potential, harness its demographic dividend and shape a future where every citizen is not just connected, but truly included.