Sarvam AI: India's Multilingual Voice AI Set to Launch by Early 2026

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at NDTV World Summit 2025

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has confirmed that Sarvam AI is nearing its launch. Speaking at the NDTV World Summit in Delhi on October 18, Vaishnaw revealed that the Bengaluru-based startup's AI model will debut either in December 2025 or January 2026.

"I will start using Sarvam," the minister stated, indicating the government's increasing involvement with homegrown AI technologies.

What Is Sarvam AI

Sarvam AI, commonly referred to as India's counterpart to OpenAI, is a Bengaluru-based startup transforming advanced AI research into practical solutions for governance and business applications.

In August 2024, the company launched business software enabling customer interaction through spoken voice rather than just text. This technology was developed using data from 10 native Indian languages.

Sarvam AI strives to overcome India's digital divide, where English-based chatbots primarily serve urban users. By incorporating local language data, Sarvam's voice AI can reach broader audiences throughout India and potentially worldwide. Its solutions are designed to facilitate real-time verbal interactions and automate specific tasks, positioning India as a testing ground for next-generation generative AI.

How Is The Government Collaborating With Sarvam AI

In April this year, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) formed a partnership with Sarvam AI to enhance Aadhaar services. This collaboration aims to leverage generative AI to make Aadhaar services more intelligent, secure, and responsive.

Under this agreement, Sarvam AI will implement voice-based interactions for resident-focused use cases.

This includes collecting near-real-time feedback from Aadhaar holders about their enrollment and update processes, and identifying potential overcharging instances.

The AI system will also generate real-time fraud alerts when detecting suspicious authentication request activities.

Which Languages Will Sarvam AI Support Initially

The initial deployment will support voice interaction and fraud detection in 10 languages: Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi, and Malayalam. There are plans to expand language support in coming months, improving accessibility across India's linguistically diverse population.

How Is Sarvam AI Handling Data Security

Sarvam AI has created a custom generative AI stack hosted on-premise within UIDAI's air-gapped infrastructure. No data will exit UIDAI's secure environment at any stage, ensuring complete compliance with data sovereignty and security protocols. The partnership is initially established for one year, with an option to extend for an additional year.

Why Is Sarvam AI Significant For India

By incorporating voice-based AI in local languages, Sarvam AI addresses a major limitation of previous chatbots in India that predominantly operated in English. This initiative has the potential to make AI services more inclusive, enabling real-time verbal interaction for millions of residents and creating new opportunities for AI applications in governance and business sectors.