Radhika, Viswam.AI is working on Telugu LLMS while AI for TN <https://aitamilnadu.org/> is working on Tamil LLMs. Viswam has worked with around 45,000 volunteers to collect 1.5 million voice samples to train their Automated Speech Recognition system and with colleges around Hyderabad to collate text for LLMs. They are currently in the process of training around 100,000 students in AI over a two month period. Around 20 percent of the time will be spent in collecting data for AI.
I recently spoke to the Tamil LLM guys and the situation is challenging but not insurmountable. Notes from my discussion below. Case Study: Tamil LLM ● 70 million speakers ● 15 trillion tokens needed to train Tamil LLM ● Available Digital Tokens: 200 billion ● Tamil Newspapers and Books: 2-3 trillion tokens ● Need govt and community help to create more tokens ● Compute is a challenge. Govt and industry help needed. Distributed computing is an alternative model being explored Venky Ameya: I shall make a contribution to Global Voices over the weekend. On Fri, Jul 18, 2025 at 2:33 AM Yeddanapudi Radhika via Silklist < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi Ameya et al! Just contributed in a small way to Global Voices. I was > wondering if you know of any indigenous-led efforts in India to use AI to > revitalize, restore, and preserve language. I read the story on the Global > Voices site about Bultoo Radio (brilliant local name!) but that effort has > the advantage of having many speakers. I'm thinking of efforts more like > what Danielle Boyer has done: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLRLyt5Ux7I > > Cheers. > Radhika > > On Wed, Jul 16, 2025 at 9:33 PM Ameya Nagarajan via Silklist < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear Silklisters (S-listers?) >> >> Some of you know me, some of you don't. I'll admit I'm really more a >> lurker here than a talker, but I am delurking to ask for help. >> >> I am the Managing Editor of Global Voices <http://www.globalvoices.org>, >> a non profit that publishes news from the global south in many many >> languages. Most of our writers and translators are volunteers, people who >> really believe in how important it is to get this news out into the world, >> to cross linguistic barriers and help people understand that really, most >> of us have the same problems, and actually we need to band together against >> digital >> authoritarianism >> <https://advox.globalvoices.org/special/unfreedom-monitor/> more than >> distrust regular people from one country over. >> >> GV and our partners work to defend the independence of the media >> <http://advox.globalvoices.org>, the openness of the internet, and the >> right of everyone, everywhere, to free expression. Our multilingual >> newsroom publishes in 5 languages and stories are translated into over >> 30 others <https://lingua.globalvoices.org/>. We work with Indigenous >> activists >> <https://rising.globalvoices.org/blog/2025/06/17/join-us-online-meeting-to-highlight-digital-initiatives-for-adivasi-languages-of-india/> >> to decolonize the internet and digitize their languages, and raise >> awareness of digital security. We are able to run really great projects, >> like the climate justice fellowship >> <https://globalvoices.org/special/global-voices-climate-justice-fellowship-2025/> >> that pairs Sinophone journalists and global south journalists to write >> investigative pieces about China's presence in other countries and the >> climate impacts of it. >> >> We've been around for twenty years, and in 2025 we've been very badly hit >> by Trump's funding cuts and their cascading consequences. We are a very >> low-cost organization, with no office and few operating costs, and most of >> our funding goes directly into staff pay. >> >> At a time when many for-profit media organizations are struggling, Global >> Voices’ production and readership have been going up -- but since we are >> committed to never paywalling and not showing ads, that doesn’t translate >> into covering our running costs. >> >> The four years I have worked at Global Voices have transformed me, my >> understanding of the world, and my faith in humanity. Yes, working in the >> news in the past four years I have managed to have my faith in humanity >> restored. That is the power of Global Voices. I can find another job, but I >> don't know if we can ever build another Global Voices. Our mission is now >> more urgent than ever. Please help us keep going! Donate if you can >> <https://globalvoices.org/donate/>, and share in your networks. >> >> I apologize if this was not a good forum for this plea, but we're >> desperate! Here are some recent stories that give you a sense of what we >> do, pulled from the newsletter: >> >> Truth-to-power stories, like this one about an Australian journalist >>> punished for her post on Gaza >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=c2f49b4088&e=ff64988260> >>> or this one about Turkey's political oppression >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=643f270485&e=ff64988260>, >>> remind me how much courage there is among journalists and activists. Other >>> stories remind me about the complexity of the world beyond the headlines >>> that are screamed over and over in my feed, like this one about Uzbekistan's >>> football team >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=643f270485&e=ff64988260>, >>> or this one about the de-colonialization of the official language in >>> Niger >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=55d6b513e3&e=ff64988260>. >>> And then there are the articles that remind me of the joy in the world, >>> like this one about International Reggae Day >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=3dafc036e2&e=ff64988260>, >>> this one about using K'iche’ Maya glyphs to reconnect art and language >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=86ae3f66e8&e=ff64988260>, >>> or the new special coverage about migration and belonging >>> <https://globalvoices.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=9307106bf78cc186e924ad999&id=a5bd592612&e=ff64988260> >>> . >> >> >> >> Cordially, >> Ameya Nagarajan >> (she/her) >> >> <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ameyann> >> >> >> >> -- >> Silklist mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist >> > > > -- > *Translator/Owner* > *AzulIndica Translations* > *North Vancouver BC, Canada* > > > > > > -- > Silklist mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist >
-- Silklist mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist
