Why Sarvam matters more now that ChatGPT speaks Hindi

Think about the last automated call you got from your bank. You can usually tell within a second. The voice says your name a little wrong, reads the rupee amount like a robot, and sounds like it has never visited your city.

This week, Sarvam Bengaluru Team moved that a big step forward.

Sarvam launched Bulbul V4 Flash, a new AI voice built for India. It speaks 11 languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Indian English, with 83 voices to choose from.

It sounds like us

It handles regional accents, Hinglish, names, numbers and rupee amounts. These are the small details that make a voice sound like it belongs here.

It’s quick

It starts speaking in under a quarter of a second, so talking to it feels like a real conversation. Sarvam says it’s up to 40% faster than its previous voice model.

It’s affordable

It costs ₹20 for every 10,000 characters, a third less than before. Until 12 November, it’s just ₹10.

Put together, this opens the door for every Indian business. A clinic in Coimbatore can send appointment reminders in Tamil. A lender in Indore can explain a payment plan in Hindi. A training team can turn one script into audio for staff across the country.

And it was built here, by a team that understands how India actually talks. That’s worth being proud of.

Who gets it: businesses and developers, through Sarvam’s API. Not a coder? You can hear the voices yourself in Sarvam’s Playground or Content Studio.

1India’s AI startups had a big week

Between 12 and 17 October, 28 Indian startups raised $302.85 million together, 2.7 times the week before. Four AI companies, RapidCanvas, Clueso, Parallel Loop and Shamrock AI, raised about $50.6 million of it.

Hunar also raised ₹40 crore to grow its AI agents that help companies hire frontline staff.

Who should care: founders and teams watching where India’s AI money is going.

2Anthropic wants to share its success with the public

Anthropic, the company behind Claude, has introduced the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund. If its shareholders agree, the fund would get 5% of the company, worth about $48 billion at its May valuation, and it would grow as Anthropic grows.

AI companies have long said that the money AI makes should be shared widely. This puts real stock behind that idea.

Who should care: anyone curious about how AI’s gains will reach everyone else.

3ChatGPT now speaks natural Hindi

ChatGPT Voice has two new Hindi voices, Neer and Leher, rolling out to everyone since 15 October. OpenAI says they bring natural Indian voices to ChatGPT.

To try them, update the ChatGPT app, then open Settings and choose Voice.

Who gets it: every ChatGPT user, free plan included.

Until next Wednesday,

P.S. Know someone building a voice product for India? Forward them this note.

Let ChatGPT compare your open tabs. It takes about 5 minutes. ChatGPT can now read the tabs open in your Chrome browser, so you can compare quotes, products or hotels in one go.

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