Recently, speaking at the People + AI Mela, which is held in Bengaluru, Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder and chairman of Infosys, has praised China for creating effective AI models in this competitive tech world.
He appreciated and highlighted China’s efforts to create affordable AI models such as DeepSeek for people all over the world to learn and innovate quickly within a few minutes with its open-source and transparent artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.
Additionally, he has also praised China for sharing its AI model-building techniques openly with the audience. Nilekani stated, “They have done the world a service. So that goes back to commoditization.”
Nilekani further added, “I have always believed that models are a commodity. This is proving to be true. Hundreds of models are getting built. China’s DeepSeek demystified model building. Last week they tweeted all their open-source practices. The knowledge to build models is getting rapidly commoditized.”
As per the reports, during the event, Nilekani also blasted many AI companies for controlling their AI models and keeping them as a closed source and a secret from the public. He said, “They keep doing more of that, but it is not that it is going to get any better. They are all typically kept within the four walls of a company. It is like a black box for the rest of us.”
Further, he has also stressed AI model “commoditization” and the need for quality Indian language data. Nilekani also mentioned AI4Bharat, an in-house project by the reputed IIT Madras Institute that serves as an open-source AI model for several Indian languages. Nilekani stressed that India is headed towards more open-source AI with initiatives like AI4Bharat.
He stated, “The hard part is usage. How do we use this to deliver value for people? That is where we can lead. We can always replace the model.”
Nilekani has been supporting AI4Bharat for many years, and, notably, he will continue supporting it for three more years as it aims to expand its capabilities to the Indian people with its open-source AI. He also said, “They will use mass-scale technologies that we have deployed in interesting use cases. There is also going to be a lot of capital coming in.”
However, at the end, he highlighted that the tech world is developing fast with the continuous evolution of AI models and further said that the real focus of AI use should be on its practical use for the betterment of people.
