Indian experts say the country should keep expanding AI infrastructure, domestic models and funding while strengthening safety and governance.
India should continue accelerating its artificial-intelligence development even as technology leaders in the United States call for slower progress on frontier models, according to researchers and industry executives.
They argue that India is still building the computing capacity, domestic models, funding ecosystem and research infrastructure needed to compete globally. Consequently, applying the same slowdown debate taking place in advanced AI markets may be premature.
Umakant Soni, co-founder of BHARAT1.AI and founding chief executive of ARTPARK, said India had barely begun developing its capabilities. Prathosh AP, an assistant professor at the Indian Institute of Science and co-founder of Cogniable.Tech, similarly described the country’s progress as still being at an early stage.
Compute and Capital Remain Major Challenges
The IndiaAI Mission has been working to make more than 10,000 graphics processing units available to startups, researchers and public institutions. However, this capacity remains modest compared with the tens of billions of dollars being invested in AI infrastructure by major international technology companies.
India has a large digital market and considerable engineering talent, but limited access to advanced computing hardware and patient capital could restrict the development of competitive domestic models.
Dependence on foreign AI platforms also creates strategic risks. Indian businesses using overseas models remain vulnerable to decisions concerning prices, access, licensing and product availability.
Building sovereign capabilities does not necessarily require India to reproduce every leading frontier model. Instead, supporters say the country needs sufficient domestic infrastructure, datasets and expertise to avoid complete dependence on foreign providers, according to Moneycontrol.
Safety and Development Can Advance Together
The argument for faster development does not mean ignoring AI safety. Researchers have warned about autonomous systems exceeding their permissions, producing unreliable results or taking unintended actions.
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei recently called for frontier AI companies to slow capability development and introduce stronger independent evaluation. His proposal focused on advanced laboratories approaching increasingly autonomous systems rather than countries still developing foundational infrastructure, Reuters reported.
For India, the emerging middle path is to expand compute, funding and domestic research while simultaneously strengthening testing, governance and human oversight.
Experts also recommend prioritising practical AI applications in healthcare, education, financial services, Indian languages and public administration. Such an approach could allow India to capture measurable benefits without treating rapid development and responsible safeguards as opposing choices.
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