Krutrim AI Opens Public Beta - Indian Startup News 198

Backstage with Millionaires
2 Mar 202410:26

TLDRCrum AI, launched by Bish ugell, has faced skepticism regarding its claimed capabilities, particularly after a viral tweet revealed it was not built from scratch as advertised. Despite initial struggles with basic questions and beta mode issues, the company's ambition to create a foundational model for India is acknowledged, though it may be a work in progress. Meanwhile, PTM Payments Bank seeks a new chairman, and BYJU's faces challenges with investor conflicts and insolvency proceedings. The Indian startup scene remains active, with significant funding rounds for logistics, health, and space tech startups, and a potential acquisition for the microblogging platform Kuku. The episode also teases an update on Shark Tank India season 2 startups.

Takeaways

  • 🚀 Bish ugell launched Crout AI for public beta testing on February 26, 2024, with the aim to outperform Chat GPT in six Indian languages.
  • 🤔 The initial results of Crout AI have been underwhelming, with questions raised about its authenticity and whether it's a foundational model or a fine-tuned existing one.
  • 🗣️ Crout AI's response to the question 'Who are you?' revealed it as an AI created by Open AI, which contradicted the company's claim of building a model from scratch.
  • 🔄 The issue of Crout AI's identity was fixed, but doubts persist about the company's claims and the AI's capabilities.
  • 🛠️ Crout AI is still in beta and expected to improve over time, with the company acknowledging potential 'hallucinations' during the beta phase.
  • 📉 Despite the challenges, Crout AI's development in less than 6 months and with limited resources compared to competitors like Open AI and Google is commendable.
  • 📉 PTM Payments Bank is seeking a new chairman after Garma stepped down and is looking to acquire more merchants to increase revenue through transaction fees.
  • 🏦 India's Finance Minister assured fintech startups that the PTM Payments Bank issue is not a sectoral problem and promised government support.
  • 📉 BYJU's faced a major setback with investors voting to remove Byju and his family from the company, despite which he claims to still be the CEO.
  • 🚗 Namo Yatri, a ride-hailing app, has seen significant growth, with 50 lakh users and a zero-commission model for drivers, contrasting with higher commission rates of competitors like Ola and Uber.
  • 📈 Indian startups had a successful week, raising a total of $314 million, with the biggest funding round going to logistics startup Shadowfax.

Q & A

  • When was Crout AI launched for public beta testing?

    -Crout AI was launched for public beta testing on the 26th of February 2024.

  • What was the initial claim made by Crout AI about its performance?

    -Crout AI claimed that it could outperform ChatGPT in six Indian languages and was trained on over two trillion tokens.

  • What was the issue with Crout AI's response to a user's question about its identity?

    -Crout AI responded by saying it was created by OpenAI, which contradicted the company's claim of building it from scratch.

  • What did Prik Desai, the founder of Kissan AI, suggest about Crout AI's development?

    -Prik Desai suggested that Crout AI might be fine-tuning an existing model rather than building a foundational model from scratch.

  • What was the initial vision of Crout AI's head of AI engineering?

    -The head of AI engineering envisioned building foundational models for India using Indic languages, joining the ranks of major companies like Meta and Google.

  • What was the controversy surrounding the launch of an electric scooter by Oli Electric?

    -The scooter wasn't ready for public launch, but it was launched and shipped anyway, leading to customer complaints and the need for improvements.

  • What was the issue with Crout AI's performance during the beta launch?

    -Crout AI struggled with answering basic questions, such as who won the 1983 World Cup and what is today's date.

  • What was the government's response to the concerns of Indian fintech startups?

    -The Finance Minister assured them that problems with a few companies should not be seen as a sectoral issue and that the authorities would provide assistance and aim to simplify compliances.

  • What was the outcome of the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) regarding Byju's?

    -The EGM unanimously voted to remove Byju's founder and family members from the company, but Byju's claimed the resolution was invalid due to a lack of quorum.

  • What is the current status of the acquisition talks between Daily Hunt and Koo?

    -Daily Hunt is in advanced talks with Koo for an acquisition, which could provide Koo with access to new users and funds.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 Crout AI's Beta Launch and Controversy

CROUT AI, launched by Bish ugell on February 26, 2024, has faced underwhelming reception during its public beta testing. The company had claimed that Crout AI would outperform ChatGPT in six Indian languages, trained on over two trillion tokens. However,质疑 arose when a user received an answer from Crout AI identifying itself as an AI created by Open AI. Prik Desa, founder of Kissan AI, suggested that Crout might be fine-tuning an existing model rather than building a foundational one from scratch, as initially claimed. Despite a fix to the specific issue mentioned, questions remain about the authenticity of Crout AI's foundational model development. The AI's struggles with basic questions and its beta status have led to skepticism, but the company's rapid development and limited resources are considered in the context of the criticism.

05:02

🏦 PTM Payments Bank and BYJU's Challenges

PTM Payments Bank is seeking a new chairman after Garma's resignation and is looking to acquire merchants to increase revenue. BYJU, on the other hand, faces a leadership crisis after investors called for an EGM to remove Byju Raveendran and his family. Despite the court declaring the EGM decisions ineffective until a hearing, BYJU received a notice from the National Company Law Tribunal regarding insolvency over a $2 billion loan. The company's $200 million rights issue is also under scrutiny, adding to BYJU's challenges.

10:02

🚀 Growth and Funding in Indian Startups

Indian startups have seen a significant increase in funding, raising $314 million in a week, with shadowfax's $100 million Series E round leading the pack. Other notable funding rounds include capillary Technologies' $95 million Series D, Kushal's $34 million Series B, Zeno Health's $25 million, Mobara's $12 million Series B, and Colt.fit's $10 million Series F. Space tech startups Deara and Space Fields also secured funding, with Deara raising $1.88 million in Series A and Space Fields raising $800,000 in seed funding. Additionally, the video references a follow-up on Shark Tank India season 2 startups, highlighting the outcomes of the deals and the current status of the featured companies.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Crum AI

Crum AI is an artificial intelligence platform developed by an Indian company with the aim of outperforming other AI models in Indian languages. It was trained on over two trillion tokens and was claimed to be built from scratch for better understanding of India. However, it faced criticism for initially identifying itself as created by Open AI, which raised questions about its authenticity and the company's claims. The video discusses the challenges Crum AI faces in its beta phase and the skepticism surrounding its foundational model development.

💡Public Beta Testing

Public beta testing is a phase in software development where a product is released to the public for real-world testing and feedback. This helps developers identify and fix issues before the final release. In the context of the video, Crum AI was launched for public beta testing, which revealed its shortcomings and the need for further development.

💡Foundational LLM (Large Language Model)

A foundational Large Language Model (LLM) is a sophisticated AI model that is designed and trained from the ground up to understand and generate human-like text across a wide range of languages and contexts. These models are typically developed by major tech companies with significant resources. The video discusses whether Crum AI is building such a model or merely fine-tuning an existing one.

💡Open AI

Open AI is a research organization that develops and promotes friendly AI to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. It is known for creating GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) models, which are advanced LLMs. In the video, Crum AI's initial identification as created by Open AI suggests that it might not be a completely original foundational model.

💡Hallucinations in AI

In the context of AI, hallucinations refer to the generation of incorrect or nonsensical responses by the AI model. This is often a result of the model's limitations in understanding the context or the complexity of the input. The video mentions that Crum AI might have hallucinations during its beta phase, which is a common issue that developers work to resolve.

💡PTM Payments Bank

PTM Payments Bank is a financial institution in India that has been in the news due to regulatory non-compliance issues. The video discusses the bank's search for a new chairman and its efforts to increase revenue through transaction fees.

💡BYJU

BYJU is an Indian edtech company that has been in the news due to internal conflicts and legal issues. The video discusses the company's founder, Byju Raveendran, and the challenges he faces, including a vote to remove him and his family from the company, as well as financial issues related to a loan and insolvency proceedings.

💡Nam Yatri

Nam Yatri is an Indian app that started as a ride-hailing service and has expanded into other transportation services. The app operates on a zero commission model, which is beneficial for drivers as it charges a fixed daily fee instead of a percentage of each ride. This model differentiates it from competitors like Ola and Uber.

💡Coup

Coup is an Indian microblogging platform that gained attention during a conflict between the Indian government and Twitter, leading to a surge in users. However, the platform struggled to sustain this growth and faced challenges in monetizing its user base.

💡Funding News

Funding news refers to the latest information on investment rounds and capital raised by startups. This is a critical aspect of the startup ecosystem, as it indicates investor confidence and the financial health of the companies.

Highlights

Bish ugell launched Crout AI for public beta testing on February 26, 2024.

Crum AI was claimed to outperform Chat GPT in six Indian languages and was trained on over two trillion tokens.

Crum AI faced skepticism regarding its authenticity after a tweet went viral.

A user received an answer from Crum AI identifying itself as an AI created by OpenAI, not Crum.

Prik Desa, founder of Kissan AI, suggested Crum AI might be fine-tuning an existing model rather than building a foundational one from scratch.

Crum AI's head of AI engineering claimed they were building foundational models for India.

Crum AI's public launch was rushed, leading to a subpar initial performance.

Crum AI struggled with basic questions like the 1983 World Cup winner and today's date.

Crum AI's beta mode was acknowledged to have potential for improvements over time.

Crum AI's development time was less than 6 months, and their funding is significantly less than competitors.

PTM Payments Bank is searching for a new chairman after Garma's resignation.

PTM Payments Bank aims to acquire more merchants to increase revenue through transaction fees.

India's Finance Minister assured fintech startups of assistance and aims to simplify compliances.

BYJU faced a challenge as investors voted to remove him and his family from the company, but he claims to still be the CEO.

BYJU received a notice from the National Company Law Tribunal regarding insolvency over a $2 billion loan.

Nam Yatri, a local ride-hailing app, has seen significant growth and has a symbiotic relationship with the ONC platform.

Nam Yatri operates on a zero commission model, which is more favorable for drivers compared to competitors like Ola and Uber.

Coup, an Indian microblogging platform, experienced a surge in users but struggled to sustain growth and is now in talks for acquisition by Daily Hunt.

Indian startups raised a total of $314 million in funding, marking the biggest week for Indian startups since the start of 2024.

Shadowfax, a logistics startup, raised $100 million in their Series E round, making it the biggest funding round of the year so far.

Capillary Technologies raised $95 million in their Series D round, focusing on customer engagement and loyalty solutions.

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