Reliance Jio Infocomm, India’s largest telecommunications company, has announced an exciting collaboration with the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, unveiling the ambitious ‘Bharat GPT’ program. Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio, dropped this significant revelation during his address at IIT Bombay’s annual Techfest. Alongside this collaboration, Ambani also hinted at the potential introduction of a dedicated operating system tailored for televisions.
During his keynote speech, Ambani outlined the company’s vision, emphasizing the creation of an expansive “ecosystem of development,” signaling the groundwork for what he referred to as “Jio 2.0.” The roots of this partnership between Reliance Jio and IIT Bombay date back to 2014, highlighting the enduring commitment to innovation.
Ambani offered insights into the forthcoming decade, foreseeing the dominant role of large language models and generative artificial intelligence (AI). He asserted that AI would undergo a transformative influence across various sectors, remarking, “We are working very hard to launch AI not only as a vertical within our organization but also horizontally across all our sectors.”
Reliance Jio’s expansion plans extend across multiple domains, including media, communication, commerce, and devices, thereby diversifying its portfolio. Ambani expressed optimism regarding the emergence of 5G private networks, envisioning that enterprises, regardless of their size, would have access to a 5G stack.
Ambani believes that India possesses the potential to emerge as a primary “innovation center” in the coming decade and could attain a formidable $6 trillion economy status by the decade’s end. He underlined the pervasive role of AI in society and various industries.
Ambani’s remarks underscored Jio’s commitment to benefiting the nation, with financial gain seen as a consequential outcome. He stressed the importance of young entrepreneurs embracing risks while striving for the greater good of society.
In a move that aligns with the Indian government’s initiative, Reliance Jio has forged a partnership with IIT Bombay to establish an indigenous GPT platform known as Bharat GPT. Professor Ganesh Ramakrishnan from IIT’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering is spearheading research into GPT and Large Language Model (LLM) solutions. This collaboration was unveiled at IIT-B’s Techfest, reinforcing the longstanding partnership between Reliance Jio and the institution.
The Bharat GPT initiative, driven by a consortium of academic institutes, including IIT Madras, IIT Mandi, IIIT Hyderabad, IIT Kanpur, and IIM Indore, aims to deliver India-centric multimodal and multi-lingual models in a unique Public-Private Partnership. The project is poised to play a pivotal role in key business verticals like telecommunications and retail.
