Indian Express | The colonial era of AI is here — India must chart its own course

The Paris AI Action Summit, with its impressive array of declarations and initiatives, could not mask a deeper geopolitical reality: We have entered the colonial era of artificial intelligence, where corporate sovereignty increasingly trumps national sovereignty, and global governance and ethics have been put on the backburner while still being paid lip service. The final declaration by the real power players— the US and the UK — speaks volumes. They are the tech giants who have effectively colonised the digital frontier.

By Arindam Goswami

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Firstpost | Paris AI Summit: How Indo-French partnership can be a rule maker for future innovations

As co-chair of the AI Action Summit in Paris, India, under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi, has the opportunity to kickstart a new chapter in global technological cooperation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a pervasive impact across different sectors. In that sense, it is a general-purpose technology (GPT), to borrow the term from Jeffrey Ding’s GPT Diffusion Theory, which promises to reshape various sectors. Nations are grappling with both its enormous potential and inherent challenges. Now is the time to come together and collaborate on setting a strong foundation for the years to come.

With its considerable experience in building and running a vast digital public infrastructure, coupled with a workforce that has proven expertise in software development, India could become an important voice in the global AI discourse

By Arindam Goswami

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Firstpost | Creative insecurity: What India can learn from Chinese DeepSeek saga

DeepSeek benefitted from a supportive structural Chinese research and development ecosystem that existed for several decades. Also, Xi Jinping’s vision for a ‘Chinese Dream’ and national rejuvenation is rooted in technological supremacy

By Arindam Goswami and Shobhankita Reddy

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News18 | Opinion | Atal Innovation Mission: Building An Ecosystem For Technological Diffusion

AIM focuses on accelerating innovation; the path to that is not just via capturing first-mover advantage, but also by creating linkages to enable cross-sectoral adaptation of technologies

By Arindam Goswami and Bhaskari J

Read the full article here.

Deccan Herald | Strengthening the IndiaAI mission

As details about the budget allocation for the IndiaAI mission emerge, this is an opportune moment to reassess its objectives for fostering India’s AI ecosystem and to evaluate how the government can achieve these goals. The authors argue that the government should promote open-source initiatives, adopt funding mechanisms that enable the market to evaluate value creation and innovation, and fund research to understand AI risks in an Indian context.

By Bharath Reddy & Rijesh Panicker

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Firstpost | As AI arms race heats up, India’s role will be crucial

While India may not be competing directly in Graphics Processing Unit manufacturing, its software-centric approach to AI development could redefine the parameters of technological leadership in the artificial intelligence era.

As countries seek to diversify their tech partnerships beyond the US-China axis, India's growing AI capabilities and neutral stance could make it an attractive collaborator.

By Arindam Goswami

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Firspost | The carbon quandary: AI, big data, and impending environmental crisis

AI’s potential in combating climate change is tempered by a sobering reality: Its reliance on power-hungry data centres. Can ‘green AI’ become a reality before it’s too late?

By Arindam Goswami

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Firstpost | Embracing AI: A strategic shift towards software-centric innovation in India

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by a coalition of tech giants and developers rallying behind an OpenAI-led initiative to build software that facilitates switching between different AI chips. As Nvidia’s dominance in AI hardware faces challenges due to supply shortages and high costs, this initiative aims to democratise AI development by reducing dependence on Nvidia’s proprietary software platform, Cuda. This article contends that India, with its robust software development industry, is uniquely positioned to contribute to this transformative shift, and this strategy plays well to India’s strengths and could assist India from a geopolitical perspective too.

By Arindam Goswami

Read the full article here.

Transitions Research | Why AI Governance Must Contend With Semiconductor Geopolitics

The entire AI value chain (also known as the AI technology stack or life cycle), from data and algorithms to computing infrastructure required for training and deployment, is critically dependent on semiconductors. Different kinds of chips like CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs and specialised ASICs, form the substrate that enables the creation and operation of AI systems. As AI systems become more sophisticated and ubiquitous, efforts to create robust governance frameworks to ensure their safe, ethical and responsible development and deployment have emerged and accelerated. Multilateral efforts like the OECD’s AI Principles and the Global Partnership on AI, etc., are important initiatives. However, any serious effort to govern AI must also grapple with the complex geopolitical and geo-economic dynamics of semiconductors. Read the full article here.

Scroll.in | AI adoption in India: Opportunities and challenges for policy considerations

Artificial intelligence has immense potential to enhance human capabilities and drive growth in several industries. It is projected to greatly improve governance, healthcare, and education outcomes.

However, this potential may not be realised if the building blocks of AI remain concentrated in the hands of a few dominant companies or the countries in which they are located.

The priorities for AI adoption in India can be quite different. Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah propose that the toughest challenges for a state – such as the tax system – involve processes that feature a high number of transactions, the need for discretion, high stakes for individuals, and some degree of secrecy. Read the full article here.

CASI | Building the Yard: Policy Considerations for AI in India

Artificial intelligence (AI) has immense potential to enhance human capabilities and drive growth in several industries. It is projected to greatly improve governance, healthcare, and education outcomes. However, this potential may not be realized if the building blocks of AI remain concentrated in the hands of a few dominant companies or the countries in which they are located. Read the full article here.

Economic & Political Weekly | On Regulating AI

The article titled “India’s Approach towards Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Utilising the International Experience” by Jawahar Bhagwat and S Y Boldyreva (EPW, 30 December 2023)identifies three primary concerns regarding the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in India: job displacement, proliferation of misinformation, and preservation of research integrity. While legitimate, these are not necessarily the top concerns with respect to AI. The article lacks comprehensiveness and portrays AI in a predominantly negative light. The proposed recommendations are likely to substantially impede India’s contributions to the development of AI and severely restrict its ability to use AI for its benefit. Read the full article here.

Moneycontrol | GoI’s Rs 10,000 crore plan for a ‘sovereign AI’ computing infrastructure needs a rethink

The union government has recently announced plans for an ambitious Artificial Intelligence (AI) computing mission with a budget of Rs 10,000 crore. This initiative seeks to create a ‘sovereign AI’ computing infrastructure that can provide computing resources as a service to Indian startups, particularly in the sectors of agriculture, healthcare, and education. AI is undeniably a technology of immense transformative potential with many applications. However, the government's strategy to build the necessary computational infrastructure is not the best use of public funds. The aim of harnessing the benefits of AI for Indians will be better served if the government concentrates its efforts and resources on areas that are not typically addressed by the private sector. Read the full article here.