Tech Mahindra, a major Indian IT firm, has achieved a groundbreaking feat by developing an advanced language model for just $5 million, in response to a challenge from OpenAI’s Sam Altman. Despite skepticism, Tech Mahindra succeeded in creating the model within five months, capable of conversing in over 40 local Indian languages and dialects. This achievement challenges the notion that such technology couldn’t be developed affordably in India. The model, named Project Indus, marks a significant step forward in AI innovation, promising applications across sectors like healthcare, education, finance, agriculture, and telecommunications, potentially transforming how businesses operate and communicate in India and beyond.

As reported by Newsweek, the co-founder of an Indian AI startup accepted OpenAI’s Sam Altman’s challenge and created a large-language model (LLM) for under $5 million.

In a keynote speech at the fifth annual MachineCon GCC Summit in Bangalore last week, CP Gurnani, former CEO of Tech Mahindra and founder of AIonOS, stated that the LLM was created in five months.

“Sam Altman challenged everybody that India will never be able to have an LLM,” Gurnani told CNN. “I spoke to my chief innovation officer that time at Tech Mahindra… Six hours later, he says I have a plan.”

To begin, Tech Mahindra, a multinational IT business headquartered in Mumbai, created an Indian LLM capable of communicating in over 40 different local languages and dialects.

“I am happy to share that they spent less than five million dollars on what Sam Altman said India will never be able to deliver,” Gurnani told reporters.

What Altman Said

When OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited India in June of last year, he stated that it is “totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models.”

“You shouldn’t try,” Alman remarked at an Economic Times-organized event. “It’s your job to like try anyway. I believe both of those things. “I think it’s pretty hopeless.”

Alman later took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to clarify his views, which sparked controversy in Indian media at the time.

“The question was about competing with us with USD 10 million, which I really do think is not going to work. But I still said try!”

Altman also stated that he believed the question he was asked was fundamentally incorrect.

“The right question is what a startup can do that’s never been done before, that will contribute a new thing to the world,” Altman writes on Twitter. “I have no doubt Indian startups can and will do that! and no one but the builders can answer that question.”

India Joins AI Race

In his keynote lecture, Gurnani questioned if corporations had completely realized AI’s promise, claiming that the technology could boost productivity by 40% in sectors such as sales and customer service.

He also labeled India a major player in the AI race, claiming the country was on its path to being self-sufficient.

“I’m very convinced that in India, as the semiconductor industry develops, five to seven years later, we would not be looking at someone else,” Gurnani told Reuters.

Tech Mahindra announced the first part of their LLM, Project Indus, on Friday. The approach is designed to communicate across a wide range of Indic languages and dialects.

“Project Indus is our seminal effort to develop an LLM from the ground up,” Nikhil Malhotra, global head of the maker’s lab at Tech Mahindra, said in a press release. “Through Makers Lab, our R&D arm, we created a roadmap, collected data from the Hindi-speaking population, and built the Indus model.”

Indus LLM will employ the “GenAI in a box” technology to simplify model deployment for enterprise use. The model makes use of Dell Computers’ technology, storage, and networking capabilities.

“Accessibility and scalability are increasingly important for organizations looking to unlock the power of GenAI,” said Denise Millard, chief partner officer at Dell Technologies. “With the Dell AI Factory, LLMs like Project Indus leverage AI-optimized technologies with an open ecosystem of partners, validated and integrated solutions, services, and best practices, accelerating the adoption of AI to drive growth, optimize productivity, and promote innovation.”

According to Tech Mahindra, the alliance aims to reinvent artificial intelligence solutions. The group envisions the content’s application in healthcare, rural education, banking and finance, and agriculture and telecom.

“This will not only redefine GenAI solutions but also empower businesses to scale and innovate at an unprecedented pace,” said Santhosh Viswanathan, vice president and managing director of the India region for Intel.

Tech Mahindra had earlier stated that it would construct an LLM based on Project Indus to preserve Bahasa Indonesia, Indonesia’s official and national language. Like the Indian LLM, the Indonesian version would allow individuals and businesses to communicate online in their native dialects and languages. India and Indonesia both have more than 700 live languages and dialects.

Last year, GreatGameIndia reported that during an event organized by the Economic Times, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told Indians, “You can try to build AI like ChatGPT, but you will fail.”