Sri Lanka’s Sigiriya AI platform to be launched in July
The Morning: LankaGPT recently announced the launch of the Sigiriya AI to be in July. Sigiriya AI was developed by a team of 30 professionals, from Sri Lanka, United States and Dubai, and is the first of its kind, built by Sri Lankans for Sri Lankan locally and overseas.
LankaGPT Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd. Co-founder and Managing Director Lasitha Gunasinghe said: “At LankaGPT, we recognised and understood the role AI could play in enhancing the economic and social landscape. For this reason, we are deeply committed to providing this tool free of charge to education, agriculture and healthcare sectors, with the hope of driving innovation, empowering communities and fostering sustainable development. Sigiriya AI underscores the rapid need to leverage technology to support crucial sectors which contribute to economic stability, and we believe that free access to AI can help create lasting positive impacts on society. “
The platform aims to penetrate the Sri Lankan market and extend its reach to regions that hold a population of Sri Lankans including the Middle East, Canada and Australia. The platform also recognises the vast Tamil speaking communities around the world, including India, Singapore, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries.
The initial version of Sigiriya AI was to be a text-based platform designed to support Sinhala and Tamil and will encompass various dialects, regional phrasing and pronunciation nuances. The tool was created using a collection of proprietary data sets including 10 billion Sinhala data sets and 10 billion Tamil data sets, developed in partnership with a multitude of academic institutions.
Sigiriya AI represents an achievement for the country, and it showcases the ability of LankaGPT to compete on a global scale, the company stated. This initiative has been made possible through collaborations with a multitude of non-profit organisations dedicated to the upliftment and wellbeing of Sri Lankan communities around the world.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic activities and overall economic expansion have resulted in a growth in the country’s ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors. This expansion is bound to see a further growth with Sri Lanka working towards becoming a regional hub supported by the country’s strategic positioning in the Indian Ocean and the strong trade ties enjoyed by it. Sri Lanka therefore requires to be on par with the fast evolving ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors that include the further development of AI initiatives. The growing business potential in these sectors is evident by the growth and profits recorded by the local businesses engaged in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors. The launch of AI programmes in Sri Lanka is also indicative of the growing demand and opportunities in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors. Foreign businesses/investors could therefore confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in the ICT and digital infrastructure development sectors while also looking at forming partnerships or joint ventures with local businesses engaged in these sectors with the aim of further expansion.