Ola's Krutrim Plans to Make AI Workers of Cab Drivers with New Gig Platform

Ola is set to launch a gig platform in the next two months, allowing drivers to engage in data annotation. In return, drivers may get money or some other kind of credits for it. The initiative aims to create additional earning opportunities for drivers during their idle time, enhancing their overall engagement with the platform. 

The intent of the company to launch this initiative is to leverage its vast driver network, encouraging them to contribute when not on trips. This approach will help enhance their income potential and also strengthen Ola’s AI capabilities by integrating localized insights. 

As part of its broader efforts, Ola is building a deep ecosystem where various stakeholders, including villages and universities, can contribute to language development. By actively involving different communities, the company intends to refine its AI models.

"We are collaborating with numerous villages to collect data, which will be integrated into our data annotation strategy. This approach enables them to annotate the data and actively participate in the economy. That’s the core idea,” Navendu Agarwal, Group CIO, Ola Electric told Outlook Business. 

Agarwal also highlighted that beyond drivers, the company is expanding this initiative to other creators. “Additionally, we are engaging with ministers and MPs in their respective local areas,” he added. 

Agarwal was speaking at Krutrim AI’s event titled ‘Samvad: Krutrim AI: Meet & Greet’ which was held in Gurugram on February 24.

On being asked if the company is considering satellite data for weather patterns and climate modeling specific to India, addressing the event, Agarwal said, “We haven’t started working on that yet, but it is definitely a valuable solution. Currently, most satellite models in India rely on data from NASA and the European Union. While we haven’t incorporated this yet, we are open to exploring it.”

While highlighting that the country needs more accessible and inclusive AI, Agarwal highlighted that Krutrim AI’s approach is different from other companies. “Unlike global companies engaged in a race to develop the most powerful AI models with massive GPU resources, our focus is different. We are not competing in that space. Instead, we aim to build AI models tailored to the Indian context—optimized for cost efficiency and performance while supporting Indian languages,” he added.

Recently, Krutrim AI launched several new models such as Krutrim 2 (an advanced large language model) designed specifically for India. that was built by leveraging global AI frameworks which includes French Intelligence start-up’s Mistral AI and NVIDIA's NeMo architecture.