AI prodigy on Vande Bharat leaves Shashi Tharoor ‘hopeful’ about India’s tech future

Tharoor took to social media to share a video of his interaction with Raul John Aju, a 16-year-old working in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), whom he met during the journey.

“Encounters on the Vande Bharat are often pleasant, but rarely this illuminating! I had the pleasure of meeting Raul John Aju, a 16-year-old tech whiz who is doing incredible work in the field of Artificial Intelligence,” Tharoor wrote on X.

During the conversation, Tharoor—who has publicly stated that he prefers Google’s Gemini over ChatGPT for his regular AI use—learnt that Raul and his teammate Ishaan are already developing systems capable of voice processing in Malayalam, Hindi and Urdu.

Raul shared details of the project when the Thiruvananthapuram MP spoke about the need for AI to transcend borders and, importantly, communicate in India’s diverse vernacular languages.

“Witnessing such ingenuity and drive in our youth gives me immense hope for India’s technological future. Wishing Raul and his team every success. It is young minds like his that will define India’s 21st-century growth story,” Tharoor wrote in the post.

Born on March 9, 1956, Shashi Tharoor served for nearly three decades at the United Nations, rising to the rank of Under-Secretary-General, and was once a candidate for the post of UN Secretary-General.

After returning to India, he entered politics and has been a Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, representing the Indian National Congress, since 2009.