While you sleep, India and China are stealing the future

A TAXI pulls up in Mumbai with no driver, trains glide at 350km/h without conductors, cargo planes cross continents with empty cockpits, and surgeons in Seoul perform heart surgery on patients S00km away using robotic hands.

- SANJITH HANNUMAN

This is not science fiction — it is Tuesday morning in Asia.

While America scrambles to catch up and Britain debates regulations, the real artificial intelligence (AI) revolution is happening in the East. The question burning in every South African mind should be: Are we watching the future unfold, or are we about to become its casualties?

The Eastern dragons breathing fire on Silicon Valley

India’s digital dominance

Remember when the world mocked India’s “jugaad” innovation? They are not laughing anymore. Indian AI companies are now making Silicon Valley executives lose sleep.

Bangalore’s Ola deploys self-driving rickshaws navigating impossible traffic while Tesla’s cars still need human intervention. Indian AI doctors perform remote surgeries — specialists in Delhi operate on rural patients using robotic arms from hundreds of kilometres away. Practo’s radiologists use AI to read X-rays for patients across three continents while they sleep. Meanwhile, Britain's NHS runs on fax machines where patients wait months to see human doctors.

India’s UPI system processes more digital transactions than the US and Europe combined, working seamlessly for village farmers and Delhi CEOs in 22 languages.

China’s calculated conquest

China operates 40 000km networks of driverless high-speed trains that never miss schedules, while managing traffic lights and cargo flows without human intervention. JD.com’s AI drones deliver dinner to apartment balconies faster than couriers can climb stairs - while Amazon’s program remains stuck in regulatory red tape.