Abstract
This study critically examines BharatGen, a government-backed initiative to develop India’s foundational multimodal and multilingual Large Language Model (LLM), as a transformative step towards indigenous Artificial Intelligence (AI). In a landscape dominated by global LLMs, concerns over data sovereignty and underrepresentation of non-English languages have become increasingly salient. This study analyzes BharatGen’s role in addressing these issues by enhancing national control over digital data and promoting language equity across India’s diverse linguistic spectrum. This study explores BharatGen’s strategic significance in reducing dependence on external AI ecosystems, its alignment with India’s national AI policy objectives, and the challenges and opportunities associated with its deployment. Ultimately, this study argues that initiatives such as BharatGen are vital not only for technological self-reliance but also for preserving cultural identity and ensuring linguistic inclusivity in the evolving global AI ecosystem.
Keywords
Indigenous AI, BharatGen, Data Sovereignty, Language Equity, Multilingual AI, Indian Language Technologies, Foundational Models, AI Policy in India, Digital Inclusion, Multimodal Language Models, Ethical AI, AI for Low-Resource Languages, AI Localization, Sovereign AI Infrastructure, National AI Strategy