India Is All In on AI with $30 Billion Push says Ashwini Vaishnaw | Raisina Dialogue 2025

Winning the AI Marathon: India in the Global AI Race

Is the AI race, like the space race of old, merely between big powers? If not, where does India stand, and what advantages will it bring to the table? This conversation will reveal India’s plans for the AI age.

Progress in AI requires big startup investments—including in compute infrastructure. Can countries like India compete with wealthier economies here? Do emerging economies have access to the leading-edge chips that many consider necessary for AI advancement?
Countries with a diverse linguistic heritage, like India, face special challenges in developing widely used and accurate large language models. How are we overcoming that? And, reversing that, are the efficiency benefits of AI greater in countries that have language diversity?
How do you see the US vs China race on AI developing in the next few years? Does the US have an insurmountable lead, or are new Chinese advancements, like DeepSeek, demonstrating an ability to catch up by crunching costs and resources?
How can policy in India help address the need for AI software engineers? How skill-intensive is AI development, and are we keeping up with the sector's skilling requirements?
What specific advantages will countries like India—with a large workforce and a history of cost-conscious implementation—bring to the AI contest?
What partnerships will define the age of AI? Is it inevitable that countries like the US, India, and the UAE will collaborate, or will their domestic AI strategies take them in different directions?

Speakers
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways; Information & Broadcasting; Electronics & Information Technology, India
Ronnie Chatterji, Chief Economist, OpenAI, United States of America
Vinod K. Dham, Founder and Executive Managing Partner, Indo-US Venture Partners, United States of America

Moderator
Shereen Bhan, Managing Editor, CNBC-TV18, India

#ai #technology #india #geopolitics #internationalrelations #development #raisina2025


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