New Delhi: In a significant policy recommendation, the Economic Survey has advised India to move away from pursuing flashy artificial intelligence breakthroughs and instead concentrate on practical, people-first deployment of AI technologies. This strategic shift is deemed essential for harnessing AI to generate employment opportunities, enhance productivity, and achieve greater strategic autonomy for the nation.
A New Vision for AI in India
The survey presents a clear and pragmatic vision, emphasizing that India's unique advantage lies not in brute computing power but in its vast population-scale deployment potential, diverse datasets, and rich human capital. It concludes with a blunt assessment: the country must leverage these strengths to ensure AI benefits reach the masses effectively.
Global AI Landscape and India's Position
The survey highlights that AI is no longer an experimental technology but a mainstream tool. Globally, approximately 88% of organizations are already utilizing AI in at least one business function. However, only about 7% have fully integrated it across operations, indicating that most firms remain in a learning and adaptation phase.
Despite this widespread adoption, infrastructure disparities are stark. A significant 73% of the world's data centers are located in high-income countries, while India hosts merely around 3%. This exposes a serious compute gap that could hinder India's AI ambitions as demand accelerates, underscoring the need for strategic investments in digital infrastructure.
Proposal for an AI Economic Council
To manage this transition effectively, the survey proposes establishing a dedicated AI Economic Council, separate from existing technical regulators. This council would have a central mandate to control the pace of AI adoption, collaborating with industry stakeholders to develop a comprehensive 10-year deployment roadmap.
Key Responsibilities of the Council
The council's tasks would include mapping out which jobs are likely to be automated, which could be augmented with AI assistance, and identifying sectors where displacement might hit hardest. The primary goal is to prevent unchecked automation from destabilizing employment markets while ensuring AI rollouts are aligned with ongoing skilling and education reforms.
Unlike traditional regulatory bodies, this council would operate with explicit social objectives. Every major AI implementation would be required to demonstrate net public benefit, whether through job creation, productivity gains, or improved service delivery. Policies would be crafted around India's labor realities, incorporating thorough impact assessments from the outset.
Structured Adoption Framework
Adoption of AI technologies would be sequenced into categories such as "deploy now," "pilot," or "defer," based on the readiness of skills, data availability, and institutional capacity. This phased approach aims to ensure smooth integration without overwhelming existing systems.
Ethical Considerations and Risks
The survey also emphasizes the importance of drawing ethical red lines around sensitive areas like surveillance, worker monitoring, and algorithmic bias to protect citizens' rights and promote fairness. Additionally, it flags a quieter but significant risk: over-reliance on large language models, which could lead to dependency issues or overlook other crucial AI applications.
By focusing on practical deployment and establishing a robust governance framework, India can navigate the AI revolution in a way that maximizes benefits for its labor-rich population while mitigating potential disruptions.
