Every day, millions of Indians have stories to tell and feedback to share — but most of these voices go unheard. Meanwhile, the computing power needed to drive India’s AI revolution remains locked behind expensive paywalls, out of reach for many businesses and researchers.

Two initiatives are changing this landscape. Jan Ki Baat (JKB) is using AI to conduct conversations with citizens at an unprecedented scale and minimal cost, while Open Cloud Compute (OCC) is breaking down barriers to affordable computing resources.

Together, they demonstrate how AI can drive practical change across India’s diverse communities and sectors.

As AI technology accelerates, these projects show how targeted applications and infrastructure development can transform public services, business, and research — making technology work for all of India, not just its urban centers.

Jan Ki Baat (JKB): Amplifying Voices Through AI-Driven Conversations

The Jan Ki Baat (JKB) initiative, spearheaded by People+AI, demonstrates how AI can be harnessed to collect and analyze feedback from millions across India.

Built on the principle of listening at scale, JKB utilises AI-powered voice technology to conduct phone calls that gather real-time feedback from people in different regions, languages, and demographics. This approach breaks down barriers to authentic feedback, enabling decision-makers in government and business to hear from traditionally underserved communities.

JKB’s unique value lies in its capacity to make data collection efficient and cost-effective. Where a traditional survey might cost ₹2,000 per interview, JKB’s AI solution has the potential to bring the cost down to just ₹4-5 per minute.

With AI handling the conversations, feedback can be collected on a massive scale—enough to perform a national census in half a year at a fraction of the cost. This AI-powered reach enables accurate, timely insights that can influence policy decisions, improve services, and foster a more inclusive feedback loop.

The first JKB experiment, conducted with over a thousand calls, included use cases from 12 organisations and 8 technology partners. From identifying eligible beneficiaries for social programs to assessing the impact of natural disasters on rural households, the JKB initiative has already demonstrated success across diverse sectors.

AI agents in this pilot effectively navigated complex dialects, gathered actionable insights, and offered a blueprint for further scaling JKB’s outreach.

One of the most powerful aspects of JKB is its emphasis on voice-based interaction, a critical feature for engaging users from India’s “India-2” and “India-3” segments—those who may not have literacy skills or familiarity with text-based interfaces.

By using natural voice conversations in local languages, JKB ensures that AI is not just accessible but meaningful to people from all walks of life. As JKB prepares to expand to one million calls across multiple languages, it is not only creating a new standard for AI-driven public engagement but also setting the stage for a voice-first, inclusive AI model tailored to India’s diverse population.

Open Cloud Compute (OCC): Democratising Access to Computing Resources

Another key initiative pushing the boundaries of AI and infrastructure is the Open Cloud Compute (OCC) network, developed with the vision of creating an open, decentralised ecosystem for cloud computing. As AI adoption grows, so does the demand for compute power—a resource that is often centralised and controlled by a handful of major providers.

The OCC network aims to change this by building a network for computing infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, and interoperable.

OCC’s approach to democratising cloud resources focuses on building a decentralised network of micro data centers and independent compute providers. Through open standards and APIs, OCC allows any provider or consumer to plug into the network, ensuring a broad selection of affordable, reliable cloud services. This model challenges the monopoly of large cloud providers by offering users, especially smaller businesses and startups, the freedom to choose from a range of providers suited to their specific needs.

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One of OCC’s central goals is to drive down the cost of AI computing power by supporting smaller, niche models optimised for affordability. By making access to compute resources more transparent and cost-effective, OCC empowers more organisations, especially those in sectors like health, education, and climate, to leverage AI without prohibitive expenses.

Early use cases within OCC include enabling agricultural startups to use machine learning for crop analytics, supporting healthcare providers in deploying diagnostic algorithms, and helping small businesses build AI-powered customer service tools—all with minimised infrastructure costs and greater operational autonomy.

For India’s technology ecosystem, OCC represents a significant shift toward local and independent cloud options, an essential step for reducing reliance on foreign infrastructure. By encouraging local players to join, OCC creates a diverse pool of computing providers and promotes a resilient infrastructure ecosystem that caters to a variety of industry needs.

From compute credits and subsidies for infrastructure development to incentives for meeting compliance standards, OCC also includes financial support structures that make it easier for small and medium-sized companies to access cloud resources.

Real-World Impact: AI Use Cases for Inclusive Development

Both JKB and OCC highlight the power of AI when applied to real-world challenges in a way that scales inclusively. Here are a few examples of where AI is making an impact:

• Public services: JKB’s voice-based feedback system is being used to identify and verify social service beneficiaries, allowing the government to reach and assist vulnerable populations more effectively.
• Healthcare: AI-powered diagnostic tools running on OCC’s cloud network can make life-saving assessments available even in remote clinics. This democratisation of diagnostic resources is invaluable for improving rural healthcare access.
• Agriculture: With AI analytics on crop health and soil quality, farmers gain insights that help them make informed decisions, reduce waste, and improve crop yield—all powered by affordable computing resources on the OCC network.
• Education: Personalised learning applications built on OCC’s infrastructure enable teachers to create adaptive learning experiences, ensuring that students of all backgrounds have a fair opportunity to succeed.

Join the People+ai Movement for Scaled Impact

The success of JKB and OCC demonstrates what’s possible when we make AI work for everyone. These aren’t just technology projects — they’re blueprints for scaling impact across India.

Views expressed by Tanuj Bhojwani, Head, People+AI

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