Ritesh Kumar

Ritesh is a linguist whose research intersects pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and AI systems for social good. He computationally models politeness, impoliteness, and language aggression, and develops safety benchmarks evaluating the harm potential and cultural appropriateness of LLM responses. He has built language resources and technologies for minoritised and endangered languages like Awadhi, Beda, Braj Bhasha, Magahi, Toto, and Chokri, alongside supporting tools like the LiFE Suite for humanities and social sciences research. Currently, he is serving as the CEO of the AI startup Unreal Tece LLP, focusing on data and models for the last million. Additionally, he is the co-founder and director of the Council for Diversity and Innovation, a non-profit Section 8 company that trains indigenous communities and works with stakeholders on linguistic and cultural documentation, digitisation, lexicon development, grammar writing, and language technologies.