PM Modi presents Indian AI-based language platform ‘Bhashini’ at SCO, says "happy to share"

The potential that artificial intelligence holds is not hidden from anyone anymore. While businesses have been early adopters, governments have also been aware of its abilities. In 2022, the Indian government unveiled Bhashini, a native AI-based language platform that can transcend language barriers by translating in-real time and allowing people from different languages to interact with one another over digital platforms. And now, PM Narendra Modi has said that he “would be happy to share” this technology with the rest of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) nations.

On Tuesday, PM Modi said during his address at a virtual summit of SCO, “India supports proposals for reforms and modernisation within the SCO. We would be happy to share India's AI-based language platform, Bhashini, with everyone to remove language barriers within the SCO. This can serve as an example of digital technology for inclusive growth”.

PM Modi pitches AI platform Bhashini to SCO

The SCO was founded in 2001 with its founding nations being Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Later, in 2017, India and Pakistan became permanent members of the organization. On Tuesday, Iran also gained permanent membership in SCO.

Despite being a multination organization, at present, the official languages of SCO are Mandarin and Russian. India has been pitching for English to also be added as the official language of the group.

Emphasizing the linguistic barriers of the organization, and urging it as a significant step to build inclusive growth, PM Modi introduced Bhashini to SCO and said, “To deal with language barriers, we are glad to introduce an AI-based language platform, Bhashini, to all”.

What is Bhashini, the AI language platform

In 2022, PM Modi launched Bhashini under the National Language Technology Mission (NLTM). The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) championed the project. It was introduced to provide a technology-based solution to digital language barriers. The platform harnesses technologies such as AI/ML and natural language processing (NLP) to develop and share open-source models, tools, and solutions (products and services) for Indian languages. The aim was to bring the non-English speaking population of the nation to the global internet and help them access it in their language itself.

The need for an AI-based language translation system was identified as one of the key missions by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC).