India's Zoho Set To Take On OpenAI And Google With Its Own Large Language Model

Indian tech firm and the software-as-a-service provider Zoho, is currently developing a large language model [LLM], following the footsteps of Google's PaLM 2 and OpenAI's GPT.

Sridhar Vembu, the CEO and founder, will spearhead the development of the LLM, according to a Business Insider report.

However, the company has not announced any specific timeline for the project's completion.

According to the company's Vice President Praval Singh, Zoho has been operating in the artificial intelligence sphere for ten years, and 13 of their apps support ChatGPT integration.

"In the short term, we have built the integration with ChatGPT, but we are also building proprietary large language models that will be capable of summarising, paraphrasing and adapting to new tasks,” Singh was quoted as saying by The Hindu Businessline.

Zoho has presence in 50 locations globally, including eight in India, and its data centres locations include Mumbai, Chennai, Shanghai, Dallas, Sydney and Melbourne.

During his recent visit to India, Sam Altman, the CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI ,said that it was "hopeless" for Indian companies to compete with OpenAI on training models.

Altman later said that his comments were taken out of context.
He clarified that he was referring to Indian companies competing with OpenAI on a budget of $10 million.

Earlier in May, Zoho had launched its privacy-centered browser 'Ulaa' to take on big tech giants like Google, Microsoft and Apple. Ulaa, a word derived from the Tamil language, means journey or voyage. The browser is built specifically to help users protect their privacy with pre-built capabilities to block tracking and website surveillance, the company said in a statement. The company had said that Ulaa is the next step in its long-standing commitment to privacy, and is designed to help users protect their personal information and internet activity from the prying eyes of surveillance companies. The web browser comes equipped with features that allow for privacy customization, built-in browser modes, and integrated productivity tools while keeping user data safe and private.

3. Zoho boasts a list of impressive clients, including BigBasket, Byju’s, Mercedes-Benz India, Tata Play Fiber, and Star Health & Allied Insurance.

4. This year, Zoho reached unicorn status, joining the exclusive group of privately held startups valued at over $1 billion.