Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw participated in the high-level global panel discussion titled “AI Power Play”, which focused on the evolving geopolitics of Artificial Intelligence, its economic impact, governance challenges and pathways for inclusive diffusion. The discussion brought together leading global policymakers, industry leaders and multilateral institutions to deliberate on how AI is reshaping power, productivity and policy across nations.

The panel was moderated by Mr. Ian Bremmer, President of Eurasia Group, and featured distinguished speakers including Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); Mr. Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair of Microsoft; Mr. Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Investment, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.

Speaking at the panel, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw underlined that India is clearly in the first group of AI-ready nations, with systematic progress across all five layers of the AI architecture applications, models, chips, infrastructure and energy. He emphasised that India’s AI strategy is firmly anchored in real-world deployment and return on investment (ROI) rather than an excessive focus on very large models.

“ROI does not come from creating the largest models. Nearly 95 percent of real-world use cases can be addressed using models in the 20–50 billion parameter range,” the Minister said. He highlighted that India has already developed a bouquet of such efficient, cost-effective models, which are being deployed across sectors to enhance productivity, efficiency and effective technology use. This approach, focused on offering maximum return at low cost, reflects India’s emphasis on economically sustainable AI deployment. Citing global benchmarks, Shri Vaishnaw noted that Stanford University ranks India third in AI penetration and preparedness, and second globally in AI talent.

Highlighting India’s focus on large-scale AI diffusion, and democratising access to advanced AI capabilities, Shri Vaishnaw detailed the Government’s decision to address the critical constraint of GPU availability through a public-private partnership model. Under this initiative, 38,000 GPUs have been empanelled as a shared national compute facility, subsidised by the Government and made accessible to students, researchers and startups at nearly one-third the global cost. He also highlighted India’s nationwide AI skilling programme, aimed at training 10 million people to ensure that India’s IT industry and startups effectively leverage AI for domestic and global service delivery.

On regulation and governance, Shri Vaishnaw stressed the need for a techno-legal approach to AI. “AI governance cannot rely on law alone. We must develop technical tools to detect bias, authenticate deepfakes with court-admissible accuracy, and ensure safe deployment through mechanisms such as unlearning,” he said, adding that India is actively developing such indigenous technological safeguards.

Other speakers also acknowledged India’s growing role in the global AI landscape. Mr. Ian Bremmer noted that India has emerged as a significant geopolitical and technological player over the past decade, while representatives from global institutions and industry highlighted India’s emphasis on diffusion, accessibility and sovereign capability as a model for emerging economies.

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Dharmendra Tewari/ Mahesh Kumar/ Vivek Vishwash