Neel AcharyLas Vegas, Nevada, August 14, 2025: At Ai4 2025, North America’s largest artificial intelligence (AI) industry event, Sanjay Puri, Founder of RegulatingAI and Chairman of Knowledge Networks Group, delivered a rallying call for inclusive global AI talent development. In his solo keynote, “Democratizing AI Talent: Bridging Policy, Innovation, and Equity,” Puri outlined how India’s rapid AI transformation, powered by a INR 10,300 crore IndiaAI Mission, 18,693 GPUs, and a 16% share of the global AI talent pool, is positioning the nation to lead Global South in supplying nearly half the world’s STEM graduates by 2030, redefining the Global South from “talent consumer” to “talent exporter.”
AI talent pipelines today remain concentrated in the Global North, shaped by systems that favour English-speaking, resource-rich contexts. However, that landscape is beginning to shift. India has already overtaken the United States as the largest user base for ChatGPT, accounting for 13.5% of global monthly active users in June. It also ranks as the world’s third-largest user of DeepSeek, signalling a surge in digital literacy and appetite for AI tools across the Global South. At the recent launch of OpenAI’s latest model, GPT-5, CEO Sam Altman underscored this shift, noting that India is now the company’s second-largest market after the United States, and could soon take the top spot.
In his solo talk at the AI summit, Sanjay Puri said, “By 2030, India and the Global South will not just consume AI talent, but export it at scale. This can only be achieving with the democratization of AI talent and dismantling the invisible walls of the industry, building South–North skill corridors, and closing the rural–urban gap at home. Mutual recognition of credentials and open policy sandboxes can empower coders from localized AI skilling hubs in Tier 2 and 3 Indian cities to launch world-class models on equal footing with Silicon Valley.”
His keynote came at a moment of global concern over the risks of technological exclusion and the centralization of AI power. While private companies dominate AI development in the West, Sanjay emphasized India’s alternative model centres on policy, public sector innovation, and community-scale application. Government-backed initiatives such as the India AI Mission, Anuvadini, AI Kosh, and Bhashini are building a comprehensive ecosystem to foster AI innovation, strengthening regional language capabilities, collecting inclusive datasets, and collaborating with startups to build India-specific AI solutions. “India’s AI story isn’t about catching up. It is about setting the pace for the world. From frugal-AI health diagnostics that bring life-saving care to remote villages, to AI tutors reaching 300 million students, we are proving that equitable talent pipelines unlock innovations the Global North would not dream of,” he added.
Sanjay Puri sees India’s approach as a model for nations throughout Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, where AI must grow alongside education, digital access, and local participation. It is not about adapting to existing AI trends, but actively shaping them to serve developmental priorities such as healthcare access, quality education, rural connectivity, and financial inclusion.
