Jugalbandi: AI on WhatsApp that speaks India's languages
Most Indians aren't comfortable in English. A WhatsApp chatbot showed how AI can answer people in their own language, by text or voice.
By the DigitalHelp4U team ·
Only a small share of Indians are comfortable reading English, and many people in villages miss out on government schemes simply because the information isn't in their language. In May 2023 Microsoft, AI4Bharat and OpenNyAI announced Jugalbandi to tackle this.
How it works
Jugalbandi runs on WhatsApp, an app almost everyone in India already uses. People can type or speak a question in their own language. AI4Bharat's Indian-language models handle translation and speech, and a large language model finds the answer, which comes back in the same language. At launch it covered information on more than 170 government programmes in 10 Indian languages.
Why it matters for businesses
- Language is a sales barrier. If customers struggle with English forms and replies, many quietly give up.
- Voice lowers the bar further. Many people prefer sending a voice note to typing.
- Meet people where they are. WhatsApp needs no new app downloads.
How we would apply it
We build WhatsApp assistants that reply in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam or English, accept voice notes, and answer questions on fees, batches, prices or bookings. For schools and coaching centres, that means parents get clear answers in the language they're most comfortable with.
Sources
- TechCrunch: Microsoft's AI chatbot reaches rural India (May 2023)
- Business Today: Microsoft launches Jugalbandi, a multilingual AI chatbot for rural India
Figures are as reported by the sources above at the time of publication.
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