In the fast-paced world of artificial intelligence, GenAI, led by ChatGPT, has taken the globe by storm. With its remarkable ability to generate conversations, art, and videos, GenAI’s subscriber count raced to an astonishing 100 million in just two months. Powered by groundbreaking technologies like Large Language Models (LLMs) and transformers, GenAI promises to be as transformative as the internet or the smartphone. Industry titans like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, and even Goldman Sachs foresee immense potential in AI, likening it to fire, heralding it as a platform shift, and predicting a $7 trillion boost to global GDP over the next decade. However, amid this excitement, concerns about job displacement, loss of human agency, the specter of AI superintelligence, bias, environmental impact, plagiarism, and threats to democracy loom large.
The epicenter of GenAI’s development is primarily split between two vastly different worldviews: the United States and China. In the U.S., Big Tech giants lead the charge, as they have in previous tech revolutions. China, on the other hand, sees collaboration between its companies and the government to build GenAI models with robust safeguards. Meanwhile, other regions, such as the European Union, are emphasizing regulation for ethical and responsible AI, while the United Kingdom aims to lead in global AI governance.
In this global AI race, India appears to be lagging behind. While there has been talk of creating its own LLMs, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has discouraged such efforts. The question arises: should India follow the Western capitalist model or the Chinese state-controlled approach?
We propose a third path for India—one that aligns with its recent successes in digital public infrastructure (DPI). India has demonstrated its ability to provide digital public goods, such as Aadhaar and UPI, which have brought digital identity, simplified payments, and more to 1.4 billion Indians. These services have transformed healthcare, logistics, e-commerce, government subsidies, and contributed to inclusive societal growth. IndiaStack, the backbone of this transformation, is now gaining global traction, with countries like Singapore, France, and the UAE adopting similar concepts.
The power of IndiaStack lies in its provision as a digital public good, accessible to all citizens, and its openness, which allows companies and startups to innovate on top of it. We believe GenAI should follow a similar path. India can develop its own BharatLLM, trained on the rich data generated by IndiaStack, fine-tuned for Indian languages and contexts, and designed to address India-specific challenges. JanAI, as we call it, would be a layer on IndiaStack, offered as a public service, bridging the digital divide and benefiting the entire population, much like Aadhaar and UPI have done. This approach would also enable India to establish privacy safeguards, tackle bias, and address ethical AI concerns using its unique notions of collective and societal privacy and trust, different from the individuality-oriented Western concept.
This vision could be realized through a tripartite partnership between a proactive government, India’s world-leading IT industry, and esteemed technical institutions like the IITs. Indian companies could create their own specific LLMs from BharatLLM, startups could leverage open APIs alongside ChatGPT, and countless creators could harness its generative powers to build content-driven businesses. This fusion of generative AI and digital public goods could propel India into a leadership role, offering a GenAI for All model to the world.
In conclusion, India has the potential to carve out a unique path in the realm of Generative AI by building JanAI as a digital public good, following the success of its digital public infrastructure. This approach would not only bridge digital divides but also empower millions of individuals and businesses to harness the transformative power of AI. With a proactive government, a thriving IT industry, and the creativity of its people, India could chart a course that serves as an inspiring example for the rest of the world—a model that brings the benefits of AI to all, while safeguarding privacy and ethics in an Indian context. JanAI could be India’s gift to the world, demonstrating how technology can truly be harnessed for the benefit of all.
