Karya: Why India Needs AI Built in Its Own Languages
Why AI still fails billions of people, and how Karya is building data for Indian languages. Try ElevenLabs → https://elevenlabs.io/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summit_bengaluru&utm_content=summit_blr_karya There are over 7,000 languages in the world, but AI works consistently in only a small fraction of them. That leaves 3.4 billion people whose languages AI barely understands. At ElevenLabs Summit Bengaluru, Safiya Husain, co-founder and Chief Impact Officer at Karya, makes the case for building AI with the communities who will use it. Karya builds foundational speech and language datasets with communities across India and the global south. Tasks are designed for anyone with basic literacy, the app works offline, and workers are reached through local NGOs and paid fair wages. Its flagship Project Apollo is collecting over 70,000 hours of speech data in 15 Indian languages through more than 60,000 speakers, transcribers and validators. That has the potential to improve AI access for over 600 million people and will create $2.5 million in wages. Safiya also explains why context matters (no, palak isn't a curry) and shares the story of Shantanu, who earned over ₹16,000 in three months working on Assamese tasks from his phone. Try ElevenLabs → https://elevenlabs.io/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summit_bengaluru&utm_content=summit_blr_karya Building Language Infrastructure for the Global Majority: 00:00 - Who are we building AI for? 02:04 - The language gap: 3.4 billion people 04:10 - Why language and context matter 06:29 - How Karya builds datasets with communities 08:35 - Shantanu's story More from ElevenLabs Summit Bengaluru → [PLAYLIST_LINK] Join the Community • Discord → https://discord.gg/hPE7yT33Qc • Reddit → https://www.reddit.com/r/ElevenLabs/ Links & Resources • ElevenLabs → https://elevenlabs.io/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summit_bengaluru&utm_content=summit_blr_karya • Docs & API → https://elevenlabs.io/docs/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summit_bengaluru&utm_content=summit_blr_karya • Blog → https://elevenlabs.io/blog/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summit_bengaluru&utm_content=summit_blr_karya • Building with the API? Subscribe to ElevenLabs Developers → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9yH2AvG2IxvsWQkQoLqL0g Connect with ElevenLabs • Subscribe → https://www.youtube.com/@Elevenlabs?sub_confirmation=1 • Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/elevenlabsio • TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@elevenlabs • X → https://x.com/elevenlabs Try ElevenLabs → https://elevenlabs.io/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=summit_bengaluru&utm_content=summit_blr_karya About ElevenLabs ElevenLabs is the leading AI voice platform for realistic, context-aware speech generation. Creators, developers, and enterprises use our tools to design voices, dub content, and build expressive AI video and audio workflows.