India has chance to catch up fast in global AI game

Microsoft is going to invest $17.5 billion in India’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, making it the US tech giant’s largest investment in the country. This investment will be utilised to expand hyperscale infrastructure, embedding AI into national platforms, apart from upskilling of Indians in the AI space.

This announcement came months after Google pledged to invest $15 billion in creating an AI hub at Visakhapatnam. The AI hub will comprise data centres, innovation centre and related AI infrastructure. Earlier, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has pledged to invest $8.2 billion in Maharashtra.

With Microsoft, Google, & AWS committing an investment of around $42 billion in AI space, India is emerging as an attractive destination globally. Currently, nations are competing with each other to take a lead in the AI domain.

While the US has a pole position in the world as of now, China has been giving tough competition to the US with its own LLM models, innovative AI platforms, and AI-powered semiconductors among others.

Similarly, European nations like Germany, France, UK and many others are jostling to attract investment from global giants. Meanwhile, Middle East countries like UAE, and Saudi Arabia have seen sound interest from global players with investment pledge.

Against this backdrop, rising interest of global players in India augurs well for the country. So far, India has been lagging in the AI game despite having one of the largest AI talent base in the world. And the reasons are many.

Lack of entrepreneurial risk taking to absence of special focus on the AI development domain can be cited as the reasons for such slow progress. However, things are changing for better. Indian government agencies are sharply focussed on putting India in the AI globe.

In this regard, from encouraging AI startups to creating a semiconductor ecosystem; the central government and various state governments are now geared up for attracting investment into the AI domain. And it has started to bear fruits. Compared to other nations, India has some unique advantages to emerge as an AI hub.

Firstly, the country already has a matured technology talent ecosystem. India’s IT services companies have a deep engagement level with global technology giants and employ skilled tech talent in significant numbers.

Secondly, as the most populous nation of the world, India is leading the world in having a critical mass of people using internet. It naturally makes India a key market, where global tech giants can sell their products and platforms.

Thirdly, the foundation of every AI model lies on data. Without data at scale, AI systems will be far from efficient. In this area, India’s huge population can provide that goldmine of data, which global tech giants are looking for. No wonder, many AI product companies like ChatGPT are providing free access to users in India for training their AI models.

Now, it is critical that India maintains the critical momentum in the AI space and doesn’t become complacent after a couple of big-ticket investments. If India plays it well, then the country will have a frontline seat in the AI theatre with the developed nations.