In today’s digital realm, the usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly increased. From creating breathtaking images to digital personal assistants to cyber security, AI has touched the lives of each one of us. Its rampant increase, covering diverse sectors, has made AI an integral part of our lives. An intriguing example of this is Baby Rajaram Bokale. A 53-year-old from Maharashtra’s Kharadi suburb manages her household chores, runs a small business of grinding spices, and teaches Marathi to Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) tools. For this, she also gets a payment of $5 (about Rs 400) per hour. After having worked for 11 days, Bokale earned Rs 2,000.
“I used what I earned to buy a part and repair my grinder. That’s money I wouldn’t normally have,” Bokale said. Bokale has now learned to pay for items with the UPI payment system and how to use the phone for internet banking. “Now I’m able to do more interesting things with my smartphone,” she added.
Every night, after a long day of work, Bokale devotes about an hour to recording her voice in Marathi, a Moneycontrol report suggests. “I am really proud that my voice is getting recorded, and someone is about to learn Marathi thanks to my voice,” Bokale asserted. According to Microsoft, while teaching Marathi to the AI tools, Bokale has at the same time been learning valuable lessons for herself — the stories she reads are about how banks work, how to save, and how to avoid scammers and frauds. They are designed to deliver practical information in an entertaining way.
“She settles cross-legged on her bed, opens an app in her smartphone, and in her clear, resonant voice, she begins to read a story aloud in her native tongue, Marathi, the language of Maharashtra state, where she lives in Kharadi, a bustling suburban neighborhood in the city of Pune,” Microsoft stated in its blog.
Bokale is among other members of a social impact organisation that has partnered with Microsoft to train AI models in Marathi.
“In India, if you don’t speak Hindi or English, it can be difficult to access technology that helps people thrive – apps, tools and digital assistants that English and Hindi speakers take for granted. The fact that hundreds of millions of potential customers could benefit from those technologies is why Microsoft and others are in a race to make their products available in those ‘under-resourced’ languages,” Microsoft mentioned.
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