'India's Tech Future': Shashi Tharoor Shares 'Illuminating' Encounter With Teen Behind Multilingual AI Project
During their interaction, the two of them spoke about the necessity for artificial intelligence to 'transcend borders and, crucially, to speak the vernacular of our diverse land'.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has shared an unexpected encounter with a 16-year-old tech enthusiast, working in the field of artificial intelligence, during his journey aboard a Vande Bharat train.
Sharing two photographs and a video on social media, the politician described his interaction with the teenager as "rarely this illuminating".
In a Jan. 7 post on X, Tharoor introduced Raul John Aju as a "tech whiz" and said he is doing "incredible work in the field of artificial Intelligence".
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During their interaction, the two of them spoke about the necessity for artificial intelligence to "transcend borders and, crucially, to speak the vernacular of our diverse land".
"It was heartening to learn that Raul and his team (including a friend named Ishaan—a name that certainly rings a bell in my household!) are already building systems capable of voice processing in Malayalam, Hindi, and Urdu," the Congress leader wrote in his X post.
Tharoor said that witnessing "ingenuity and drive" in the youth of our country gives him "immense hope for India’s technological future." He further wished success to John Aju and his team, adding that young minds like him "will define India's 21st-century growth story."
Check his post here:
In the 54-second video shared by Tharoor on the social media platform, the youngster asked the politician about his views on the need to have AI for India.
In reply, Tharoor said, "AI has got to transcend national borders, but I think one thing we need perhaps is more AI in Indian languages."
John Aju said he feels the same and highlighted that they are doing this to have access to most of the Indian languages, such as Hindi, Malayalam and Urdu.
Tharoor then asked him whether he was doing this by himself or had others as well in his team.
The boy replied, "So right now, by myself, by for my content creation I do have a team."
Asked whether the team includes “other prodigies like you," John Aju said, "Me and one of my friends... Ishaan is also there."
On this, Tharoor quipped, "I have a son called Ishaan, he couldn’t do it..."
Who is Raul John Aju?
The 16-year-old is from Kerala's Kochi and serves as the founder and CTO at AIRealm Technologies since August last year, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He began learning about AI at the mere age of six and went on to build a robot, named 'Me-bot,' at the age of 16. It helps him with his efforts to make educational content and teach AI and machine learning.
His startup is famous for the Project Just Ease programme that has been developed in collaboration with Kerala and Dubai's government. Its aim is to make legal information more accessible to all the citizens.
He remains active on platforms like Instagram and YouTube, where he keeps sharing educational content regarding AI. As per News18, he has trained more than 1.4 lakh students and business professionals globally via educational programmes and online sessions.
