In a pivotal address at the CSIS think-tank event, India’s top scientific advisor Ajay Kumar Sood revealed the nation’s blueprint for AI governance rooted in trust, inclusion, and balanced security measures. Ditching heavy-handed rules, India aims to unlock AI’s potential across its economy.
From New Delhi, Sood connected virtually to stress AI’s centrality in national strategy. Once limited to select firms, AI now powers diverse sectors, forming the digital spine of growth amid booming global adoption of generative tools and surging data infrastructure needs.
These trends elevate AI governance beyond policy silos into realms of economic resilience, citizen confidence, and long-term sustainability. India’s approach weaves in robust safeguards—safety, responsibility, openness—while preserving room for breakthroughs.
The IndiaAI Mission, kicked off in 2024, operationalizes this vision through collaborative computing resources, unified data hubs, homegrown AI models, and workforce upskilling. Affordable high-powered compute for entrepreneurs and academics has dramatically cut barriers, fueling a startup boom.
Thousands of sector-specific datasets flood the National AI platform, empowering local innovators. Parallel efforts target AI literacy and leadership in global norm-setting. The fresh National AI Governance Report innovatively fuses regulatory and tech-driven risk controls, paving ways for broad-scale progress.
As the AI Impact Summit looms, Sood pushed a universal framework: make core AI assets—compute power, datasets, base models—accessible everywhere. This prevents monopolies, allowing countries to tailor AI to cultural nuances, linguistic diversity, and public needs.
True victory lies in channeling AI’s might toward equitable social gains, Sood asserted, redefining metrics of technological triumph.