BharatGen India Sovereign AI Revolution Unveiled at AI Impact Summit 2026
Imagine an AI not just built for the world, but by India, for India—rooted in our languages, values, and everyday struggles. In this exclusive interview from the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Prof. Ganesh Radhakrishnan from IIT Bombay lights up the stage with host Mamta Chopra (Doordarshan), decoding BharatGen, India’s game-changing open AI platform.
BharatGen's Bold Vision
BharatGen stands as a multilingual, multi-modal large language model tailored for Indians, acting as a network to link people and solve region-specific challenges. Unlike generic global AIs, it’s infused with India’s history, values, and 22 official languages, promoting true inclusivity and empowerment. Prof. Radhakrishnan emphasizes it’s more than a tool—it’s a pathway to self-governing AI sovereignty.
Building the Ecosystem: Academia Meets Industry
The project thrives on a frugal, collaborative model uniting nine academic institutions, industry leaders, and government backing from the India AI Mission. Top talent from Google, Microsoft, and IITs fuels development, with full-time engineers driving models up to 1 trillion parameters. This decentralized approach leverages local expertise, ensuring AI speaks to—and from—every state and dialect.
From National Highways to Village Paths
BharatGen’s foundational models (like 10B and 17B parameters) form “national highways,” while partnerships distill them into specialized “state highways” for sectors like legal, finance, Ayurveda, and agriculture. Innovators and startups co-design these via open platforms, releasing benchmarks for evaluation and real-world use cases. Examples include Jal Jeevan Mission copilots blending regulations, traditional knowledge, and best practices for water management—AI with humans firmly in the loop.
Sector |
Specialized Model Focus |
Key Benefit |
|---|---|---|
Legal & Finance |
Small language models |
Accurate, context-aware compliance |
Ayurveda & Agriculture |
Domain-tuned versions |
Local problem-solving ownership |
Water & Sanitation |
Co-designed copilots |
Connecting dots across policies and practices |
Tackling Data Security and Provenance
India handles data rigorously: systematic processes attribute sources, check licenses, and maintain provenance from pin-code level speech data. Agentic models verify metadata across vendors, preventing misuse and enabling traceable fine-tuning. This avoids “digital colonies” by keeping data in-house, prioritizing cost-efficiency and sovereignty over foreign APIs.
Alt: India AI Impact Summit 2026: Exclusive Interview with Prof. Ganesh Radhakrishnan | Mamta Chopra (Doordarshan)
2026 Goals: Scale, Unity and Global Inspiration
Aiming for 1T-parameter models, BharatGen seeks more authentic data, use-case feedback, and team expansion via its IIT Bombay foundation. Phonetic similarities across Indian languages enable efficient, unity-fostering tech—like shared series in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi. Echoing PM’s January 8 vision, it pushes novel ideas at modern-traditional intersections, attribution for India’s knowledge, and fearless AI adoption.
AI Impact Summit: India's Call to the Global South
The summit spotlights BharatGen as IP capital for resource-constrained nations, offering “recipes” for self-reliant AI via glass-box models. India leads by example: own your models, improvise solutions, and scale frugally. Expect discussions on co-design, benchmarks, and sovereign stacks that empower craftsmen in Moradabad, farmers in Punjab, and beyond.
This interview isn’t hype—it’s a blueprint for AI that feels like home. Watch the full YouTube video for the unfiltered energy, and join the BharatGen movement shaping India’s AI destiny.
BharatGen India Sovereign AI Revolution Explained at AI Impact Summit 2026
The conclave reinforced a clear national consensus:
Source: PM Modi LinkedIn
