- Published on March 11, 2025
- In AI Features
How Does TurboML Plan to Build a Foundational Model Under $12 Million?
The key to achieving this also lies in assembling a world-class AI team, says CEO Siddharth Bhatia.
Image by Nalini Nirad
- By Aditi Suresh
Machine learning platform TurboML is among the frontrunners awaiting a decision from the IndiaAI Mission on its proposal to build foundational AI models trained on Indian datasets.
As a first-time founder, TurboML’s Siddharth Bhatia spoke to AIM about his goal of building a home-grown foundational model for less than $12 million.
China’s DeepSeek claims to have built its model for less than $6 million. Although Bhatia did not specifically address this figure, he pointed out that being part of the IndiaAI mission would grant access to subsidised compute rates through government vendors and contracts.
But, can a SOTA foundational model really be built in 6 months?
Bhatia believes a timeline of 8-10 months is doable with reinforcement learning, synthetic data
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Aditi Suresh
I hold a degree in political science, and am interested in how AI and online culture intersect. I am at aditi.suresh@analyticsindiamag.com & x.com/aditisuresh12
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