Artificial intelligence (AI) must evolve as the next layer of public infrastructure, which is accessible, affordable and accountable, if it is to power inclusive growth, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Tuesday, positioning India to lead the world in population-scale AI deployment.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit, Kant described AI as a “hugely transformational technology” set to disrupt every sector and reshape daily life. The urgency, he stressed, lay not just in innovation but in equitable design. AI systems, he argued, must be multilingual, low cost and usable in low-bandwidth environments to ensure they serve farmers, women, MSMEs, frontline workers and non-English speakers, not just urban elites.
Drawing parallels with India’s digital public infrastructure stack, Kant said the country’s rapid digital progress offered a blueprint for AI adoption. India, he said, leapfrogged decades of development because its digital systems were built on open-source architecture, open APIs and global interoperability, principles he believed must now anchor AI ecosystems.
“AI designed as public infrastructure can become the most powerful inclusion tool of our generation,” Kant said, adding that trust-based governance and accountability frameworks would be key to scaling deployment responsibly.
Referencing his interactions at multiple summit sessions, Kant underlined the need to move beyond ethical frameworks and policy principles toward real-world innovation, job creation and enterprise adoption. India’s startup ecosystem and entrepreneurial depth, he said, positioned the country uniquely to build open AI models that expand competitiveness while creating economic opportunity.
Terming the moment as pivotal, Kant said India had the talent, digital rails and policy momentum to lead the next wave of AI innovation, provided it remains open, inclusive and built for scale. “This is India’s moment,” he said.
