Sarvam AI CEO Gifts Lifetime Access Of Its Model To Cancer Survivor, Wins Praise

Sarvam AI founder and CEO, Pratyush Kumar, is winning praise online after gifting lifetime access to his company's AI model to a cancer survivor who relies on it for text-to-speech communication. The heartwarming gesture came after the user, Raghunath AS, shared his story on social media. Raghunath detailed that cancer had taken away his 'gift of speech', forcing him to rely on written notes. While modern AI models finally allowed him to express his thoughts out loud, the pay-per-character pricing model quickly made daily communication expensive.

Raghunath highlighted that India has nearly two million people with speech disabilities for whom text-to-speech AI was a blessing. However, the pricing tiers meant that they were unable to utilise it in everyday life.

"Hello @SarvamAI, I am 70, an oral cancer survivor since 2015. Cancer took away my God-given gift of speech. Today, my wife is my voice before doctors, banks and the outside world," wrote Raghunath.

"I have spent years communicating through written notes, often unread or unanswered. At cancer hospitals, I see countless patients struggling to express their suffering. Our pain is ours, but our voice has become someone else's."

Raghunath, a former media practitioner, requested SarvamAI to introduce an affordable and unlimited monthly subscription tier for disabled people so that they could communicate without it burning a hole in their pocket.

"Could @SarvamAI introduce an affordable, unlimited-use Divyangjan monthly subscription like other AI models like #ChatGPT #GeminiAI? We are not asking for charity. We are asking for the dignity of speaking for ourselves. Waiting for your reply so that I can subscribe this tool right away.

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As Raghunath's post went viral, Kumar quickly responded, saying the company built its product with this use case in mind. Kumar subsequently announced that Raghunath's SarvamAI account had been credited with lifetime access to the AI models.

"Raghunath ji, thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is at the heart of what we are attempting at @SarvamAI," said Kumar, adding: "We agree that you shouldn't have to count characters to be empowered by AI. We have credited your account with lifetime access to our models."

Kumar also requested others using Sarvam for accessibility to email them so that the team could address the issue before a formal programme was launched.

The exchange highlighted AI's power, with social media users also applauding Kumar for not wasting time and deploying the technology to help those in need.

"I have very high conviction that Sarvam is the company that's going to put India on the AI map very strongly. Kudos to the whole team. Happy Deepavali," said one user, while another added: "This is the absolute right use of AI. Well done, Pratyush."