Karnataka’s ElevenLabs Partnership Irks Indian Voice AI Startups

India’s AI startups are building homegrown alternatives to global products, yet state governments have been eyeing partnerships with foreign players, making it harder for them to find customers at home. ElevenLabs recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS) to explore using voice AI in Kannada across citizen services, skilling, and grievance redressal. The initiative will enable mute users to communicate using a synthetic versio