Author
Devika Rao
Devika leads language work at AIVA — shipping the ASR/TTS pipeline for Indian languages. Native speaker of three of the languages AIVA supports. Previously at Microsoft Research India.
Posts by Devika Rao
AI agent for two-wheeler service centers in India (2026)
A monsoon morning brings a two-wheeler garage more calls than a car center sees in a week, mostly in Hindi or Gujarati. An AI agent built for that volume.
AI receptionist for coaching institutes and tutoring centers
Admission season means the same 15 questions while counselors are mid-demo-class. AIVA answers batch timings and fees in whatever language parents use.
AI receptionist for hotels and homestays: questions at 2am
A guest locked out at 2am doesn't wait until morning — they call, and a missed call becomes a bad review. AIVA answers at 2am like it's 2pm.
AI receptionist for language and music academies (2026)
A two-teacher academy can't justify a front-desk hire for 'trial class Saturday?' — or afford to miss it. An AI receptionist handles enrollment FAQs.
Pharmacies: stock checks and refill reminders by SMS
A lot of pharmacy calls are 'do you have this in stock,' from someone who'd rather text than wait on hold. AIVA answers both, in their preferred language.
Assamese voice AI: why the Northeast has been underserved
Most 'pan-India' products quietly mean everywhere except the Northeast. Assamese is one of AIVA's twelve native languages, not an afterthought.
Bengali voice AI for West Bengal's small businesses
Most support lines default to Hindi or English and call it 'regional coverage.' For a caller in Durgapur or Siliguri, neither one is actually Bengali.
Booking AI for day spas and wellness centers, not salons
Most booking AI is designed around a 15-minute haircut. A spa books 90-minute sessions with a therapist — and needs an AI booking agent built for that math.
How AIVA handles Hinglish code-switching on a call
'Evening mein free ho?' isn't Hindi or English — it's how many Indian callers actually talk. Here's how AIVA handles code-switching without losing the thread.
Inside AIVA's analytics: categorizing intent automatically.
A dashboard saying '38% of your calls were reschedules' only works if Hindi calls, Tamil calls, and English texts land in the same category automatically.
Kannada voice AI for Bangalore's small businesses (2026)
Bangalore's tech-capital reputation hides a simpler truth: most of its everyday commerce still runs in Kannada. Here's what serving it actually takes.
Malayalam voice AI for Kerala's clinics, salons, and shops
Kerala pairs top-tier healthcare with one of India's largest populations abroad — its clinics, salons, and shops need Malayalam that works on both ends.
Odia voice AI: phone support for Bhubaneswar and beyond
Odia is a classical language with one of India's oldest literary traditions — the one multilingual products routinely skip. Here's Odia voice AI, done right.
Punjabi AI agents for Punjab and Delhi-NCR small businesses
A lot of fluent Punjabi speakers don't write Gurmukhi day to day — which is why voice, not text, gets Punjabi right in Punjab and Delhi-NCR.
Why regional-language AI is harder than translation
Translation-layer AI and natively-trained AI look identical on a features page and sound completely different on a phone call — here's the engineering gap.
Telugu voice AI for Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh businesses
Telangana and Andhra Pradesh don't share one Telugu, and treating it as a single checkbox misses that. Here's how AIVA built Telugu natively for both.
Urdu voice AI for Hyderabad and Lucknow's small businesses
Urdu carries its own vocabulary and etiquette — it isn't Hindi with a different label. AIVA built Urdu voice AI for Hyderabad and Lucknow, on purpose.
Why we shipped 12 Indian languages before anyone asked.
Customers asked for English. We shipped Hindi, Marathi, Tamil and nine more first — and learned how Indian callers actually want to talk to an AI agent.