Smita Gupta & Jugalbandi (India) 

Shehara Apr 6, 2026 1 min read

 

 

Who Built It

A lawyer working for OpenNyAI, a collaborative dedicated to using AI for legal access. Built with AI4Bharat (IIT Madras researchers) and Microsoft Research.

The Gap They Saw

1.4B

People in India the majority unable to access services in English

11%

Speak English, which is also the language of government programs, legal documents, and official services

89%

Welfare schemes were inaccessible to the people they were designed to help.

What They Built

A WhatsApp chatbot that understands questions

Spoken or typed in any Indian language, retrieves information from government databases in English, and responds back in the user’s language by voice.

Covers 10 official Indian languages

171 government programs.

Who It Serves

Farmers

Domestic workers

Rural residents

Students seeking scholarships

Anyone who cannot access government services because of the language barrier.

 
 
 

Why It Belongs Here

Accessible through the tool 1.4 billion people already use:WhatsApp

  • Requires no new download, no technical skill, no literacy in the language of government.

  • A lawyer built the access layer the state forgot to.

 

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