Wake Up, India: The Reality of AI Colonialism:

As AI becomes more integrated into everything, the world is now poised to suffer from unprecedented inequity. The disparity is being driven by AI power imbalance, supremacy in chips, cloud computing and compute monopoly, and finally, robotics and AI inequity. It seems that in the near future, control over AI systems will be the major dominant player when it comes to global political power, above military force.

Few corporations and nations control the ecosystem of AI

Like other monopolized sectors, AI is dominantly controlled by a handful of corporations – Google, OpenAI, Microsoft, and a few countries like the US, China, and the EU. The situation becomes even more worse as these players also hold almost all the data that is required for training the algorithms. Developing countries have no choice but to rely on foreign AI, only to become consumers without control over the algorithms, decisions, and biases. The reality in advanced chip manufacturing is even more worse, with only a few countries making almost 90% of the world’s supply.

The United States leads the world in chip design with companies such as Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD leading the pack. While India has skilled technical personnel, the nation relies on imports of advanced chips. Any nation that does not have domestic semiconductor fabs becomes AI superpowers become permanently dependent.

The compute and cloud monopoly is just as worrisome. Ai models take a lot of computing power, which is in the hands of AWS (Amazon), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Chinese cloud leaders. Smaller countries and businesses have to purchase AI services, deepening their dependancy on external systems. In the end, control over AI means control over the economy, military, and society.

While India has progressed in AI, it still does not have an all encompassing AI ecosystem which would allow her to participate at par with other players in AI supermodels — OpenAI, DeepMind or Anthropic.

India already has the essential components necessary.

This is not to say that India doe snot have appreciable strength. Some of India’s strength in AI includes the India AI Mission, its sovereign AI models and investment in semiconductidor R&Ds. India has the second largest population of AI engineers in the world (after US). It has Institutes like IITs, IISc, IIITs, TIFR, etc. It has also made great strides in computational linguistics, AI ethics, and edge AI.

Most of the aforementioned companies, like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Reliance, are also developing the software applications for Artificial Intelligence. India holds the top position in the development multilingual artificial intelligence models like Bhashini which deals with local languages. Tata group is collaborating with Powerchip of Taiwan to set up the first semiconductor fab in India. The ISRO-made Dhruva processor (for space applications) is proof that India can make indigenous chips. C-DAC is also working on AI specific processors with its Param AI chips. India joined RISC-V International to facilitate an open-source chip ecosystem.

The road ahead is very bumpy

There is a multitude of challenges that lay ahead. India does not currently possess a GPT-4 or Gemini-level AI model. The computing infrastructure is still at its infancy. The country lacks domestic AI supercomputers that can compete with the NVIDIA clusters in the United States and China. The AI Chip industry is almost non-existent and highly dependent on imports from NVIDIA, AMD, and TSMC. Unlike the US, India does not have an indigenous AI cloud ecosystem similar to Google Cloud AI or AWS AI. Indian filings for AI patents as well as deep-tech startups are also considerably low, way behind the US, China, or even smaller players like Israel.

To transform into an equally advanced partner of AI, India must build a sovereign AI Strategy. India should develop a large-scale Indian AI model using local datasets, construct AI supercomputers, invest in exascale computing clusters for AI training, and develop indigenous AI Chips. These RISC-V-based AI processors, like China’s Huawei Ascend, should also feature a India AI cloud to construct the necessary infrastructure similar to Baidu AI Cloud and Amazon AI. An AI-First Policy, AI R&D investments, an AI ethics framework, international collaboration, and leadership for India centered around the global power shift is imperative. Global AI diplomacy is a goal India can set for itself, but it would require urgent, effective action.

Acknowledge the rationale behind the importance of a quantum leap being non-negotiable

There exists great risk in using imported AI chips and processors – having back doors, hidden instructions, supply chain compromise, and more. AI chip surveillance will only go so far. Concealed foreign chips can have dubious firmware suspicions allowing for remote control, monitoring or disabling during emergencies. They can also contain ‘kill switches’ to disengage them remotely in case flies geopolitical missiles. Electing AI chips has the potential reason to be integrated with foreign synergies networks.

Malicious countries could provide Indian AI systems with inaccurate battlefield information, which could lead to self-inflicted damages. The paralysation of weapon systems could also occur. The fighter jets, missile systems, and warships rely on purchased processors, which can be turned off remotely. AI chips utilized in telecom, banking, and government networks can be classified and leaked to rivals immediately. These companies that India relies on, like Intel, AMD, TSMC, and Nvidia, have the power to restrict sales at any moment, as witnessed with the ban on Huawei by the United States or the sanctions on advanced semiconductors during the war between Ukraine and Russia. This means India can’t completely integrate AI into its defense, governance, or scientific research activities without possessing AI chips.

AI has the potential to serve as a super weapon since it can have total control of several factors like the economy, finance, infrastructure, and more without having to fire a single shot. AI can compel a nation into submission by hacking into the communication systems, power grid infrastructure, and bank systems. Autonomous AI robots and drones can conduct wars without the need for human soldiers. Entire populations or public opinion and elections can be manipulated using machines through AI, and this makes AI powered propaganda possible. While traditional wars are fought using weaponry, the AI war may involve fighting for the attention of the target nation.

Sensible strategies to avert AI colonialism

India needs to minimize its dependencies by developing indigenous AI Talk Chops. India should also invest in RISC-V-based AI Talk Chops similar to China’s Loongson and Huawei Ascend. Further, it should extend the Semicon India initiative to produce cutting edge 5nm or 3nm chips and build Open-Source AI Hardware. Secure collaboration can also be explored with Japan (Renesas) Taiwan (TSMC) and EU (STMicroelectronics). Additionally, investments in Quantum and Neuromorphic computing and future-proofing AI processing through new computing paradigms needs to be prioritized.

With the given urgency, India must expedite the construction of semiconductor fabs in India (5nm and below); launch an ‘India AI Processor’ initiative to encourage the production of indigenously designed chips; legally enforce the use of Indian AI Talk Chips on critical infrastructure (defense, telecom, finance, governance) and build national sovereignty in cloud AI computing with Indian hardware.

Typically, the most advanced in researching and developing AI are the most economically powerful countries with profound technological investments and solid educational systems. U.S, China, UK, Canada, Israel, Singapore, Germany, France, South-Korea and Switzerland are the most advanced AI models. U.S develops AI models, semiconductor, and cloud services.

Leaders in the AI race

China is developing its own AI models, supercomputers, and even has its own chip manufacturer, SMIC. Although the European Union is behind in chips, it is ahead in trying to regulate AI and set ethical standards for its use. Both Japan and South Korea are dominant producers of chips, but very few AI models, if any. India possesses a strong software base, but lacks all sophisticated chip fabs and AI infrastructure. It is of utmost concern that India does not place in the top ten for AI R&D, as this makes India a country that cannot be an equal partner in the AI driven future.

If this pattern continues, we may end up with an alarming digital divide. Many countries are likely to end up as AI consumers only. AI sovereignty could replace physical control. Countries without AI sovereignty will be perpetually behind in economy, security, innovation and they will become victims of data colonialism. Weaker nations will have their data exploited and controlled by AI superpowers.

Superpower nations will likely exploit this pattern resulting in supercharged inequality due to AI. Countries lacking AI dominance will be forced to comply with the rules set by the AI superpowers.

Compute and cloud inequality

Most estimates assert that the U.S. hosts the greatest amount of large-scale data production and collection centers, with over 1,500. China is in second place, but there is enormous variation in estimates, ranging from 400 to over 1500 based on how a data center is defined. Germany and the U.K. are the leaders in Europe, each hosting close to 500. In stark contrast, India, with its burgeoning population and demand for cloud computing, only has around 100 centers. There is a clear divide in the state of digital infrastructure and cloud capacities in every part of the world.

Robotics complete the package

This is the advanced dimension of AI disparity that is often ignored, but is critically important. While decision-making and computing power under AI is already significant, the capability to enact an AI in physical form featuring robotics and autonomous mechanisms, and the integration of cyber-physical systems, is key to determining the dominants of the future economy, military, and global workforce. Industrial robotics, autonomous logistics, and AI-enhanced manufacturing are led by advanced nations - U.S., China, Japan, Germany and South Korea. There is a developing risk that less advanced countries will lose their low labor cost edge if agricultural, manufacturing, and service industries are taken over by AI-powered robots. These nations that are lacking a robotics ecosystem will grow more dependent economically by depending on imported robots.

In the context of warfare, autonomous drones, robotic soldiers, and unmanned ships say a lot about the future. The U.S.(Boston Dynamics, DARPA), China (Norinco, DJI), and Israel (IAI, Rafael) are the leaders in drones and other AI autonomous weapons. Without local AI-robotics for defense, a nation has no option other than to purchase autonomous war machines from dominant states which would put them at risk during wars.

Chatbots accompanied with robotic process automation (RPA) tools are merging into one to change the way AI interacts with people in healthcare, retail, banking, space, ocean exploration, and services. AI without robotics is simply software. An AI with robotic attachments is global supremacy. Countries with AI powered robots will dictate the economy, the military along with the industries of the future.

India can secure her technological future and rise as a great power in AI by decisively investing in sovereign cloud infrastructure, AI models, AI chips, and Robotics. An AI independent India is costly, but the absence of action will cost much more. Time is of utmost importance, and India will not have the luxury of waiting for the future.