India scaling up its AI mission, says Nandan Nilekani

IANS April 11, 2025 310 views

Nandan Nilekani, the visionary Infosys co-founder, has boldly addressed India's position in the global AI landscape. He emphasizes that India is strategically progressing in artificial intelligence, focusing on scaling innovative models rather than competing in size. Nilekani highlights the unprecedented nature of AI, where machines are expected to make autonomous decisions, marking a revolutionary leap in technological trust. Despite acknowledging implementation challenges, he remains optimistic about India's digital sophistication and potential to rapidly integrate AI across enterprise and public sectors.

"Indians should not worry about not having developed large AI models" - Nandan Nilekani
India scaling up its AI mission, says Nandan Nilekani
New Delhi, April 11: India is not behind in the global race for artificial intelligence (AI) leadership and is now focused on scaling up its own AI mission, Infosys co-founder and Aadhaar architect, Nandan Nilekani, said on Friday.

Key Points

1

India's AI mission is advancing with strategic small model development

2

Trust in non-human intelligence represents a significant technological shift

3

Implementing AI requires complex workflow and system transformations

4

Digital transformation provides India competitive technological advantage

He highlighted that the Indian AI mission is already in place and is moving forward with small models that need to be scaled up.

"Indians should not worry about not having developed large AI models like some other countries. We should not be losing sleep because somebody has not built any AI models,” he said while speaking at the ‘Global Technology Summit’ here.

“India is already on the path of progress. Now talks should be about scaling it up,” Nilekani added.

He also spoke about how this AI revolution is different from earlier tech changes. “One of the key differences between previous tech revolutions and the current one is that for the first time, we intend to place trust in non-human intelligence,” Nilekani pointed out.

In the past, technology was predictable and followed clear instructions. But with AI, we are expecting machines to make decisions -- a huge leap of faith, he said.

While AI is creating a lot of excitement, Nilekani cautioned that its implementation will not be easy.

“The real challenge lies in integrating AI into everyday systems. AI doesn’t mean it’s going to be easier. It’s going to take the same effort, if not more,” he said while speaking at the summit.

According to him, successful adoption of AI requires significant changes in the way enterprises and various governments function.

“You have to change the workflow in enterprises or in government so that AI becomes a part of it. We have to do a lot of upgradation, but the fundamentals still matter,” he said.

Despite these challenges, India’s progress in digital transformation over the last 15 years gives it an edge.

“Because of India’s situation today and the technological sophistication that we have accomplished, the gap between global developments and AI in India is going to be very short,” he said.

“Enterprise AI is much harder and will take a long time, but the most difficult is implementing AI in the public sector due to structural constraints,” he added.

Reader Comments

R
Rahul K.
This is such an exciting time for India's tech sector! Nilekani's vision gives me hope that we can lead in AI without blindly copying others. Our digital infrastructure like Aadhaar shows we can innovate differently 🇮🇳
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Priya M.
While I appreciate Nilekani's optimism, I worry about implementation. Government systems move so slowly - look how long it took to digitize basic services. AI integration might take decades at this pace.
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Arjun S.
"Trusting non-human intelligence" is such a profound statement! Never thought about AI that way before. But he's right - we're entering completely new territory with machine decision-making.
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Sanjana P.
Love that we're focusing on scaling rather than just creating massive models. Quality over quantity! Small, efficient AI solutions tailored for Indian needs could be our competitive advantage ✨
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Vikram J.
The public sector challenge is real. As someone working in a government office, I can confirm our systems aren't AI-ready at all. We need massive training programs before even thinking about integration.
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Neha R.
Nilekani always brings such clarity to complex topics! His point about changing workflows is crucial - tech alone won't solve anything if processes don't evolve too. More leaders should think like this.

We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.

Tags:
AI Technology Nandan Nilekani Indian Tech Innovation Artificial Intelligence Infosys Digital Transformation
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