We are investors in Navana, which enables transactions to be closed via vernacular voice. The company has been collecting voice samples since 2018 or so, with a focus on banking transactions and the like.They collected various dialects and accents and colloquial phrasing.
There was a fantastic article on how empowered people feel when they can complete transactions with ease. Isn’t this what all Indians deserve? https://theprint-in.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/theprint.in/ground-reports/voice-based-banking-for-low-literate-indians/2610584/?amp IISc is also doing work on language sample collection. Having a native language LLM is fantastic. That said, a lot can be done just by unlocking the power of Gen AI for vernacular speakers. And rock on, Ameya and Global Voices. Will make a donation. Jo On Fri, Jul 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM Ameya Nagarajan via Silklist < [email protected]> wrote: > Thank so much Venky! > > Re Tamil, there was this interesting report that came out recently about > content > moderation in Tamil > <https://cdt.org/insights/moderating-tamil-content-on-social-media/>, > from the Center for Democracy and Technology. > > > Cordially, > Ameya Nagarajan > (she/her) > > <http://www.linkedin.com/in/ameyann> > > > > > > On Fri, 18 Jul 2025 at 12:56, Venkatesh Hariharan via Silklist < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> 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 >> > -- > Silklist mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman.panix.com/listinfo.cgi/silklist >
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