News & Updates

Latest announcements, community initiatives, AI developments, open-source projects, events, and technology updates from Swecha.

Top Story

ETGovernment•July 8, 2024

Telangana ITE&C Dept announces Datathon in association with Swecha to create Telugu Large Language Model

The datathon represents a significant step towards collecting and digitizing a diverse range of Telugu linguistic and cultural resources. Participants will gather data from various oral sources, including folk tales, songs, and local histories.

AI & Society 2 min read

View Article

Machine Maker•January 30, 2024

IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha Host AI Hackday, Empowering 2000 Students to Build AI for Social Good

Swecha and IIIT Hyderabad organized AI Hackday, a massive hackathon designed to foster people-centric AI development. Over 20 colleges, 60 faculty members, and 100 industry mentors guided 2000 students to create inclusive AI solutions.

Hackathon 2 min read

View Article

The Hindu BusinessLine•December 30, 2023

Swecha launches Telugu AI model 'Chandamama Kathalu'

Free software movement group Swecha has unveiled 'Chandamama Kathalu', an AI model tailored for Telugu. Unlike massive global LLMs, this model focuses on efficient performance to preserve the linguistic nuances and cultural heritage of Telugu stories.

AI Models 2 min read

View Article

The Hindu•November 19, 2024

Viswam.AI: IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha announce joint Centre of Excellence for AI

Aiming to democratize access to AI technologies in the Global South, IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha have launched Viswam.ai. The initiative focuses on building models that serve local languages and unique regional challenges.

Partnerships 2 min read

View Article

All Stories

Telangana Today•July 9, 2024

Swecha to digitize local folklore via Telugu LLM

As part of its large-scale internship program, Swecha is engaging students to collect, translate, and digitize local folklore, songs, and heritage data. This grassroots effort will train their upcoming open-source Telugu language models.

Digital Heritage 2 min read

The Hindu•May 2, 2024

Swecha Gonthuka project aims to build a comprehensive Telugu AI voice assistant

Swecha has introduced 'Swecha Gonthuka', an ambitious voice collection drive. Volunteers across Telangana are contributing thousands of hours of spoken Telugu to build an open-source AI voice assistant capable of regional dialects.

Voice AI 2 min read

The Hindu•March 30, 2024

AI Days 2024 focuses on democratising Artificial Intelligence

Held at JNTU Hyderabad, the AI Days 2024 conference, co-organized by Swecha, brought together students, researchers, and policymakers to discuss the ethics, open-source licensing, and grassroots impact of AI.

Conferences 2 min read

The Hindu•August 30, 2024

Understanding Trust and Safety in AI: Swecha hosts major roundtable

A pivotal roundtable at IIIT Hyderabad, hosted by Swecha and SFLC.in, debated the intersection of AI innovation and copyright. Experts drafted a new open-source AI license for the Indian context.

AI Governance 2 min read

New Indian Express•December 31, 2023

Swecha unveils 'Chandamama Kathalu' in Telugu with AI model

Swecha successfully demonstrated an AI model that generates new Telugu stories in the style of the classic Chandamama magazines, proving the efficacy of small language models for specific cultural tasks.

Storytelling AI 2 min read

Swecha.org•December 15, 2023

Thousands gather for Swecha's Open Source Technologies Summit

Emphasizing that technology must serve society, Swecha's annual summit attracted over 5,000 engineering students who contributed to health-tech, agri-tech, and open-source civic platforms.

Community 2 min read

Freedom Matters•October 10, 2023

Bridging the Digital Divide: Swecha's Free Software interventions in rural schools

Through customized GNU/Linux operating systems, Swecha has equipped hundreds of rural government schools with functional, free software-based computer labs, completely avoiding costly proprietary licenses.

Education 2 min read

IndiaAI•January 2, 2024

Hyderabad's Swecha org launches an AI model on Chandamama Kathalu

Featured on the national IndiaAI portal, Swecha’s new generative AI model bridges generations by recreating beloved Telugu folklore through modern AI architecture, setting a precedent for vernacular AI.

National News 2 min read

Picks for you

Swecha Open Source Fellowship

Flagship program training young students on the free software development model.

Join community hub

National & International Exposure

2011

Richard Stallman Endorsement

GNU founder Richard Stallman visited Hyderabad to support Swecha's efforts in creating localized free software for Telugu speakers.

2021

Hosted MiniDebConf India

Swecha hosted MiniDebConf India, bringing together international Debian developers and local contributors for localization sprints.

2023

DebConf23 Presence

Swecha and FSMI delegates presented work at DebConf23 on bridging the digital divide through local-language operating systems.

2024

Telugu LLM Datathon

Partnered with the Government of Telangana to mobilize 20,000+ students to construct the largest open-source Telugu voice and text dataset.

2025

VISWAM.AI Research Initiative

Launched cooperative AI research framework with IIIT Hyderabad and SFLC.in to construct sovereign models for Indic languages.

2026

National AI Sovereignty Campaign

Released a draft open-source AI license for public consultation to establish community rights and ownership over localized datasets.

Magazine Stand

Swecha Magazine - Issue 01

Swecha Magazine - Issue 02

Swecha Magazine - Issue 03

Swecha Magazine - Issue 04

Click to Spread

News & Updates

Top Story

Telangana ITE&C Dept announces Datathon in association with Swecha to create Telugu Large Language Model

IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha Host AI Hackday, Empowering 2000 Students to Build AI for Social Good

Swecha launches Telugu AI model 'Chandamama Kathalu'

Viswam.AI: IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha announce joint Centre of Excellence for AI

All Stories

Swecha to digitize local folklore via Telugu LLM

Swecha Gonthuka project aims to build a comprehensive Telugu AI voice assistant

AI Days 2024 focuses on democratising Artificial Intelligence

Understanding Trust and Safety in AI: Swecha hosts major roundtable

Swecha unveils 'Chandamama Kathalu' in Telugu with AI model

Thousands gather for Swecha's Open Source Technologies Summit

Bridging the Digital Divide: Swecha's Free Software interventions in rural schools

Hyderabad's Swecha org launches an AI model on Chandamama Kathalu