Donald Trump is within weeks of taking over the White House for his second presidency. In this Gist interview, Anirudh Suri, non-resident scholar at Carnegie India, argues that India needs to keep a close eye on his approach to technology.
Suri says in keeping with his Make America Great Again slogan, Trump will inject a hefty dose of nationalism into technology. This means the focus will be on innovation rather than regulation.
“Unhindered innovation or less hindered innovation will get priority and this has implications for India, which will also have to emphasise innovation. I think partnerships of the kind Jio and Nvidia have forged and across the supply chain, India should form partnerships with US and European firms.”
India should continue to think of regulation, Suri said, but this could be a little further down the road, and should include AI safety, accountability and trust.
India must also push itself on global platforms such as the Global Partnership and AI. Suri warned that “AI is more cutting-edge research driven than the internet,” meaning more investment in R&D, recruiting and retaining cutting edge research talent and so on.
He pointed to at least two camps in the US, one which says R&D in the US must be closely guarded and countries like China must not get access to it.
“China being the primary geopolitical competitor but that could easily extend to Europe and India,” he said.
Then there is the other camp epitomized by companies like Meta, which in order to compete with its peers, has a very open-source strategy, which it hopes, will give it the edge in India and Europe. One needs to wait and see which camp forges ahead.
Suri believes that the real competition in technology is between the US and China, and this will be really in the race for which country emerges the dominant player in the field of AI.
This is where Trump’s transactional approach could help India. Whether it is Europe or India, Trump will want to know what’s in it for him and this country has some strengths. It is also a geopolitical partner of the US. So India must showcase the value that it brings.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Anirudh Suri, non-resident scholar at Carnegie India.
