Eros Innovation founder Kishore Lulla calls for sovereign Indian AI

The call for culturally specific AI

Eros Innovation founder Kishore Lulla is advocating for sovereign AI models tailored for India, citing the cultural shortcomings of current large language models developed by Western technology firms. Speaking with Deadline, Lulla argued that for AI to be truly useful and accepted in the Indian market, it must be developed with a deep understanding of the country's diverse and nuanced cultural landscape.

He envisions a new class of AI that he terms "sovereign," meaning it would be built and trained on datasets that properly reflect India's specific linguistic, religious, and social contexts. This approach aims to create technology that can operate with greater accuracy and cultural sensitivity than the generalized models currently available from major international technology companies. The goal is to provide a tool that serves the Indian public without the inherent biases of models trained primarily on Western data.

An illustrative example

Lulla's conviction stems from a direct experience with existing AI tools. He recounted an attempt to generate a video of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi using a popular large language model. The results were unsatisfactory, failing to capture the deity with the necessary respect and accuracy. This illustrated to him how current AI fails to grasp the context required for culturally significant subjects.

"I was playing with some LLMs and wanted to make a video out of our goddess Lakshmi," Lulla stated, explaining the experiment convinced him of the need for a different approach. The incident solidified his position that homegrown AI is not a luxury but a necessity for India to participate fully in the technological shift without sacrificing cultural integrity.