Open AI sesame

India needs more than a summit to open the doors to AI glory

- K. SUNIL THOMAS

If the AI race were a Bollywood potboiler, India ended up with a 'happily-ever-after' with February's India AI Impact Summit jamboree in Delhi.

Some embarrassments apart, the event was a success—lakhs of people thronged venues like the Bharat Mandapam, there was breathless media and public interest from around the world, and there was a line up of dignitaries and tech tycoons ranging from French President Emmanuel Macron to ChatGPT's Sam Altman flanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the dais. It seemed like India had arrived on the global AI arena. The New Delhi Declaration at the end of the summit saw 91 nations and two international organisations signing up to work for an inclusive, secure and sustainable AI ecosystem.

Unfortunately, the AI race is more like a long-running web series than a quick movie climax. And if the initial seasons are anything to go by, the world's most populous country is only playing a supporting role as a big consumer market, and still needs a plot twist to rise up to a starring role.

That is a hard knock for a nation that had gotten used to being the top dog in the tech pack, mainly as an IT services powerhouse. The sudden turn in technology towards AI has exposed India's Achilles heel: its sore lack of skills, scale, capability and know-how, which could hurt its power and position en route to Viksit Bharat 2047.

The alarm bells have been ringing for a while in the corridors of power, with Modi himself making it clear during the AI Impact Summit: "We are approaching this not as a future problem but as a present imperative.... AI presents both a tremendous opportunity and a challenge for the IT sector. My vision is that India should be among the top three AI superpowers globally, not just in consumption, but in creation."