Basic HTML Version

|  | Table of Contents |  | View Full Version

Page 12 - The Indian EYE 022026
P. 12

    Op-Ed                                                              FEBRUARY 20, 2026       |  The Indian Eye 12

                                                            INDIAN INTEREST

             AI at the Crossroads: Who Will Shape the

                Intelligence That Shapes Our Economy?

              As nations and corporations race to dominate artificial intelligence, the real question is whether AI will
                                                 serve humanity — or force humanity to serve it.

                                                                                                                  domestic adoption and lower entry
                                                                                                                  barriers for smaller players.
                                                                                                                      However, open source is not au-
                                                                                                                  tomatically synonymous with open-
                                                                                                                  ness in governance or freedom in
                                                                                                                  usage. The real question is who sets
                                                                                                                  the norms, controls the data and de-
                                                                                                                  fines  the  boundaries  of  acceptable
                                                                                                                  application.
                                                                                                                      India’s entry into the AI race
                                                                                                                  comes at a crucial moment. With
                                                                                                                  its vast talent pool, digital public
                    SHOBHAN SAXENA                                                                                infrastructure  and  growing  start-
                                                                                                                  up ecosystem, India has the poten-
                  he global scramble for arti-                                                                    tial to chart a third path — neither
                  ficial  intelligence  supremacy                                                                 purely  corporate-driven nor tightly
            Tincreasingly resembles a  high-  ments. Model sizes are brandished   advanced economies and those still   state-controlled. The onboarding of
            stakes economic arms race. Govern-  like trophies. Benchmarks become   struggling with basic digital access.  tens of thousands of GPUs, the push
            ments are announcing billion-dollar   marketing tools. Every week promis-  Just as the industrial revolution cre-  for indigenous foundational models
            missions, venture capital is pouring   es a “transformative” breakthrough.  ated both wealth and exploitation,  and the emphasis on AI applications
            into model-building start-ups, and    This atmosphere of hype has   the AI revolution risks concentrating   tailored to Indian challenges signal
            tech giants are unveiling ever larger,  real economic consequences. Capital   power in a handful of corporations   ambition.
            ever more “powerful” systems. Yet   that once flowed to diverse sectors —  and countries.                 This  is  where  the  AI  Impact
            beneath the headlines and valuations   manufacturing, green energy, public   The job market is already feeling   Summit acquires significance beyond
            lies a deeper question: are we wit-  health technologies — is now being   the tremors. Unlike previous waves   symbolism.  Hosting  the  first  global
            nessing a genuine technological rev-  funnelled disproportionately into   of automation that primarily affected   AI gathering of its scale in the Global
            olution — or a funding-fuelled hype   AI start-ups. Stock markets react   manual labour, AI strikes at cogni-  South sends a message: governance
            cycle wrapped in the language of in-  dramatically to AI announcements.  tive professions — content creation,  conversations cannot remain con-
            evitability?                      Entire business models are being re-  legal drafting, coding, customer sup-  fined  to  Silicon  Valley  or  Brussels.
                The competition between differ-  shaped on speculative projections of   port, financial analysis. White-collar   The People, Planet and Progress
            ent models of AI has become intense.  what AI might do, rather than what it   workers, once considered secure,  framework suggests an attempt to
            American tech giants are pushing   demonstrably delivers today.     now  find  themselves  vulnerable  to   anchor AI in sustainable develop-
            proprietary large language models     For the global economy, the   algorithmic substitution.         ment, employment generation and
            trained on vast datasets, guarded   implications  are  profound.  Artifi-  For developing countries that   social welfare.
            by paywalls and enterprise subscrip-  cial intelligence promises produc-  rely heavily on outsourcing and ser-  But summits must translate into
            tions.  Europe  speaks  the  language   tivity  gains  across  logistics,  finance,  vice exports, this shift is particular-  structures. If India can champion
            of regulation and ethical guardrails.  healthcare,  agriculture  and  gover-  ly sensitive. If AI reduces the cost   shared compute infrastructure, AI
            China is advancing its own ecosystem,  nance. Automation of repetitive   of performing knowledge work in   Commons  and  ethical  standards
            increasingly  rooted  in  open-source   cognitive tasks could lower opera-  high-income countries, the tradition-  rooted in inclusivity, it could help
            or semi-open frameworks designed   tional  costs  and  unlock  efficiencies   al outsourcing model could weaken.  rebalance global AI governance. It
            for rapid adoption and strategic au-  at scale. Countries that integrate AI   The economic ladders that lifted   could argue that AI is not merely a
            tonomy. Now India, too, is entering   effectively into public infrastructure   millions into the middle class may re-  tool for corporate profit or strategic
            the fray with its IndiaAI Mission and  — taxation systems, welfare delivery,  quire reinvention.      rivalry,  but for  public  good  —  im-
            the high-profile AI Impact Summit.  transport networks — may see mea-   China’s  approach  offers  an in-  proving  agriculture  productivity,
                At one level, competition is   surable gains in growth.         teresting counterpoint. Its growing   healthcare access, disaster manage-
            healthy. It drives innovation, reduces   But growth will not be evenly   emphasis on open-source AI models   ment and education.
            monopolistic control and accelerates   distributed.                 reflects both strategic necessity and   Ultimately, the debate is not
            breakthroughs. But at another level,   The nations that control foun-  geopolitical calculation. By making   about algorithms; it is about agency.
            much of what we see today feels like   dational models, data infrastructure   models accessible and adaptable,   The  race  is  underway.  But win-
            a race not merely for technological   and semiconductor supply chains   China positions itself as a techno-  ning  should  not  be  defined  by  who
            leadership, but for capital. AI firms   will  command  disproportionate  logical alternative to Western pro-  builds the biggest model. It should
            are  competing  for  funding  rounds,   influence.  AI  could  widen  the  eco-  prietary systems. Open ecosystems   be  defined  by  who  builds  the  most
            valuations and geopolitical endorse-  nomic gap between technologically   encourage rapid experimentation,  humane one.

                                                                   www.TheIndianEYE.com

| 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |