What is the story about?
The Global AI Lens Soirée, presented by HCL Tech, in association with CNBC-TV18, on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, blended the lofty domains of policy with the intricate machinery of artificial intelligence's physical and philosophical infrastructure. Here, amidst the rain and chaos of a Delhi evening, the conversation turned to the tangible foundations upon which any credible AI future must be constructed.
The Promise of AI
Prashanth Nair, Executive Editor, CNBC-TV18, hosted a panel that set the stage for an exploration of national necessity and sovereign control, featuring Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and former Foreign Affairs Minister of Sweden, Micael Johansson, CEO of Saab, Hari Gopalakrishnan, Partner & Head India Private Equity at EQT, and Dr. Suneeta Reddy, Managing Director at Apollo Hospitals, who held forth on the principles underpinning responsible AI.
Michael Johansson spoke with striking candour about the practical need for AI, and how it might bridge gaps in human capability, while Carl Bildt placed the moment in historical perspective, noting that artificial intelligence may represent the fastest-diffusing technology humanity has ever seen, “It's the fastest spread of any technology in the history of mankind so far."
Hari Gopalakrishnan brought a realism to the debate, admitting that "peak AI is probably not in our lifetime". The benefits are still enormous, with Dr Suneeta Reddy sharing how AI has improved bed utilisation by 7.4% across Apollo Hospitals. But there’s still some way to go to fulfil the democratic promise of AI. “What we do in Chennai, we want to be able to do it in tier two and tier three towns”.
The Intelligent Ecosystem
The next panel discussion, moderated by Shruti Mishra, in partnership with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, sharpened the geopolitical focus considerably. It featured Gregory C. Allen, Senior Advisor, Wadhvani AI Centre at CSIS, Aalok Mehta, Director, Wadhvani AI Centre at CSIS, and Natasha Crampton, Vice President, Chief Responsible AI Officer, Microsoft, discussing the power, partnerships, and geopolitics shaping the global AI ecosystem.
Gregory C. Allen addressed the evolution from inscrutable ‘black box’ AI towards greater transparency. But there is still a persistent gap between principles and practice, as Natasha Crampton noted. "Principles are essential in this space, but they're definitely not enough alone.” Aalok Mehta offered pointed advice to those looking to promote equitable diffusion of AI across the Global South: “Trying to compete in developing frontier models is not the right solution", insisting instead that India should leverage its advantage in the unique use cases and linguistic data.
Building Strong Foundations
Subsequent conversations examined the foundational layers at the heart of all intelligence. Navtez Bal, Vice President & General Manager, Red Hat India and South Asia, issued a warning against lock-in, reiterating that "The stack itself should be open by design." He also predicted a ‘valley of despair’ to follow present excitement about the possibilities of AI, before a genuine transformation emerges.
Sid Sheth, Founder & CEO of d-Matrix, offered a glimpse of the hardware future by elucidating how integrating computing and memory can eliminate energy-sapping journeys data currently makes between separate components. "If you keep rolling that trajectory forward and extrapolate, you realise that there's not enough energy on the planet to run all the inferencing needs", he warned.
Innovation Unbound
India's AI story is incomplete without its startup ecosystem, where innovation translates into execution at scale. The startup panel that rounded off the evening delivered on that promise, featuring four pathbreaking founders: Manu Chopra, co-founder and CEO, Karya; Utkarsh Saxena, co-founder and CEO, Adalat AI; Prashant Warier, co-founder and CEO, Qure.ai; and Umesh Sachdev, co-founder and CEO, Uniphore, who transformed abstraction into vivid, human-scale reality.
While Manu Chopra described building foundational datasets across seventy Indian languages with over 140,000 contributors, Utkarsh Saxena transported the audience into India's overcrowded courtrooms, where judges transcribe witness depositions by hand. Prashant Warier revealed how routine medical examinations can become powerful screening tools, while Umesh Sachdev and his team at Uniphore exemplified what effective and practical deployment of AI looks like.
Beyond the ingenuity of their ideas, the founders illustrated a talent advantage that India possesses, which is often overlooked. It unveiled pathways that might enable India to fulfill its AI promise; not through brute force, but by incremental innovation at every layer of the stack, from the foundation to systems, from models to applications, which will touch a billion lives and, in the words of Umesh Sachdev, turn India into the “adoption, application, diffusion capital for AI”.
Beyond the ingenuity of their ideas, the founders highlighted a talent advantage that India often overlooks. Together, their stories revealed how India’s AI future may not be defined by brute computational power alone, but by innovation across every layer of the stack - from data to models to applications - touching a billion lives.
The Promise of AI
Prashanth Nair, Executive Editor, CNBC-TV18, hosted a panel that set the stage for an exploration of national necessity and sovereign control, featuring Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and former Foreign Affairs Minister of Sweden, Micael Johansson, CEO of Saab, Hari Gopalakrishnan, Partner & Head India Private Equity at EQT, and Dr. Suneeta Reddy, Managing Director at Apollo Hospitals, who held forth on the principles underpinning responsible AI.
Michael Johansson spoke with striking candour about the practical need for AI, and how it might bridge gaps in human capability, while Carl Bildt placed the moment in historical perspective, noting that artificial intelligence may represent the fastest-diffusing technology humanity has ever seen, “It's the fastest spread of any technology in the history of mankind so far."
Hari Gopalakrishnan brought a realism to the debate, admitting that "peak AI is probably not in our lifetime". The benefits are still enormous, with Dr Suneeta Reddy sharing how AI has improved bed utilisation by 7.4% across Apollo Hospitals. But there’s still some way to go to fulfil the democratic promise of AI. “What we do in Chennai, we want to be able to do it in tier two and tier three towns”.
The Intelligent Ecosystem
The next panel discussion, moderated by Shruti Mishra, in partnership with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, sharpened the geopolitical focus considerably. It featured Gregory C. Allen, Senior Advisor, Wadhvani AI Centre at CSIS, Aalok Mehta, Director, Wadhvani AI Centre at CSIS, and Natasha Crampton, Vice President, Chief Responsible AI Officer, Microsoft, discussing the power, partnerships, and geopolitics shaping the global AI ecosystem.
Gregory C. Allen addressed the evolution from inscrutable ‘black box’ AI towards greater transparency. But there is still a persistent gap between principles and practice, as Natasha Crampton noted. "Principles are essential in this space, but they're definitely not enough alone.” Aalok Mehta offered pointed advice to those looking to promote equitable diffusion of AI across the Global South: “Trying to compete in developing frontier models is not the right solution", insisting instead that India should leverage its advantage in the unique use cases and linguistic data.
Building Strong Foundations
Subsequent conversations examined the foundational layers at the heart of all intelligence. Navtez Bal, Vice President & General Manager, Red Hat India and South Asia, issued a warning against lock-in, reiterating that "The stack itself should be open by design." He also predicted a ‘valley of despair’ to follow present excitement about the possibilities of AI, before a genuine transformation emerges.
Sid Sheth, Founder & CEO of d-Matrix, offered a glimpse of the hardware future by elucidating how integrating computing and memory can eliminate energy-sapping journeys data currently makes between separate components. "If you keep rolling that trajectory forward and extrapolate, you realise that there's not enough energy on the planet to run all the inferencing needs", he warned.
Innovation Unbound
India's AI story is incomplete without its startup ecosystem, where innovation translates into execution at scale. The startup panel that rounded off the evening delivered on that promise, featuring four pathbreaking founders: Manu Chopra, co-founder and CEO, Karya; Utkarsh Saxena, co-founder and CEO, Adalat AI; Prashant Warier, co-founder and CEO, Qure.ai; and Umesh Sachdev, co-founder and CEO, Uniphore, who transformed abstraction into vivid, human-scale reality.
While Manu Chopra described building foundational datasets across seventy Indian languages with over 140,000 contributors, Utkarsh Saxena transported the audience into India's overcrowded courtrooms, where judges transcribe witness depositions by hand. Prashant Warier revealed how routine medical examinations can become powerful screening tools, while Umesh Sachdev and his team at Uniphore exemplified what effective and practical deployment of AI looks like.
Beyond the ingenuity of their ideas, the founders illustrated a talent advantage that India possesses, which is often overlooked. It unveiled pathways that might enable India to fulfill its AI promise; not through brute force, but by incremental innovation at every layer of the stack, from the foundation to systems, from models to applications, which will touch a billion lives and, in the words of Umesh Sachdev, turn India into the “adoption, application, diffusion capital for AI”.
Beyond the ingenuity of their ideas, the founders highlighted a talent advantage that India often overlooks. Together, their stories revealed how India’s AI future may not be defined by brute computational power alone, but by innovation across every layer of the stack - from data to models to applications - touching a billion lives.
