India’s efforts to build indigenous artificial intelligence models have received a boost with startup Avataar.ai launching Varya AI, a government-backed video generation model that it claims is significantly faster and cheaper than the leading Chinese alternative. talk to NDTV profitSravanth Alluru, founder of Avataar.ai, said Varya AI is the first indigenous AI video model developed under the IndiaAI mission and can generate high-quality video content within minutes.
According to the company, this model is 27 times faster and cheaper than some of the leading Chinese video generation models currently available on the market. Alluru said Varya AI outperforms Alibaba’s Wan model across multiple benchmarks and delivers comparable video quality. The company said lower operating costs could help drive greater adoption among businesses and content creators, allowing it to target larger markets in India and abroad.
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Avataar.ai is among a select group of startups selected under the IndiaAI mission to develop indigenous foundational AI models as India looks to reduce dependence on foreign AI platforms and build domestic capabilities. The company has also built legal safeguards into its model, including restrictions on the generation of NSFW content, watermarking of AI-generated videos, and the ability to label content to align with new government requirements for synthetic media.
Although India is primarily seen as an adopter rather than a creator of frontier AI models, the goal is to build products for the global market, not just domestic users, Arles said. “We are building for India and the world,” he said, adding that the Prime Minister encouraged startups supported under the IndiaAI Mission to develop globally competitive products. The announcement comes as competition in generative AI intensifies, with countries competing to develop sovereign AI capabilities across text, image, and video generation technologies.
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