For AI startups, voice is the next big frontier

Training voice AI is complex due to India's linguistic diversity and accents

- Sakshi Sadashiv

Voice is fast becoming the defining layer of human-AI interaction in India, despite being the most challenging to train. Artificial intelligence (AI) startups are sharpening their focus on sculpting this interaction with design, authentic emotion, and intent. Yet, India presents a unique challenge: the sheer diversity of its accents, languages and tonalities.

Unlike text, which is relatively uniform, spoken language is richly layered—with cultural nuances, colloquialisms, and emotion. Startups building voice-first AI models are now doubling down on one thing above all else: the depth and diversity of datasets.