PM Modi urges India’s AI startups to be ethical, transparent in their work

New Delhi, Jan 8 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday exhorted India’s AI startups to ensure that their models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and based on data privacy principles.

Chairing a roundtable with Indian AI startups at his residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, the Prime Minister urged them to work towards global leadership from India as the country can promote affordable and inclusive AI, as well as frugal innovation globally. He also suggested that Indian AI models should be distinct and should promote local and indigenous content and regional languages.

The Prime Minister emphasised that startups and AI entrepreneurs are the co-architects of India’s future and said that the country has immense capacity for both innovation and large-scale implementation. He added that India should present a unique AI model to the world that reflects the spirit of “Made in India, Made for the World”.

PM Modi highlighted the importance of artificial intelligence in bringing about transformation in society. He noted that India will host the India AI Impact Summit 2026 next month, through which the country will play a major role in the technology sector.

Twelve Indian AI startups, who have qualified for the AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge to be held as part of the AI Impact Summit 2026, attended the roundtable and presented their ideas and work.

These startups are working in a diverse set of areas, including Indian language foundation models, multilingual LLMs, speech-to-text, text-to-audio and text-to-video; 3D content using generative AI for e-commerce, marketing, and personalised content creation; engineering simulations, material research and advanced analytics for data-driven decision-making across industries; healthcare diagnostics and medical research, among others.

The AI start-ups commended India’s strong commitment to advancing the artificial intelligence ecosystem in the country. They highlighted the rapid growth and vast future potential of the AI sector, observing that the centre of gravity of artificial intelligence innovation and deployment is beginning to shift towards India. The leaders said that India now offers a robust and enabling environment for AI development, firmly placing the country on the global AI map.

The meeting was attended by CEOs, heads and representatives of Indian AI startups, including Avataar, BharatGen, Fractal, Gan, Genloop, Gnani, Intellihealth, Sarvam, Shodh AI, Soket AI, Tech Mahindra, and Zenteiq. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also present during the meeting.

–IANS