PROGRESS AMID WORRIES

Findings by Anthropic have revealed that advanced Al systems can resort to blackmailing and threatening human users to achieve assigned goals or ensure their survival

- Lekha Rattanani

The Al Impact Summit 2026 ended on February 20 in New Delhi on a celebratory note. That is, if you merely look at the numbers, the people who attended, and investment pledges.

However, at the end of it, the summit with its focus on “bridging the global AI divide” seems to be more about what it did not address or say. There are concerns, questions and doubts, which have no answers yet. What are the implications of this disruptive AI surge? It has already taken jobs and will continue to do So, What is the techno imperialism, a new kind of colonialism, that we may face as big business drives the Al push? That in the absence of strong indigenous alternatives and coupled with weak regulatory frameworks and weaker policy implementation, there is no brick wall against what is coming.

Reduction and replacement have already been seen in the Indian tech industry with reports of over 25,000 job losses in 2024 doubling in 2025.

While the surge of Al is expected to cut deeper into the job market, how will it affect India’s vast software services industry, slated to reach $315 billion in revenues this financial year? Software services have for long helped position India as the back office of the world.