Government needs to lead AI investment: IBM CEO

NEW DELHI: IBM chairman & CEO Arvind Krishna said India should build sovereign capability in artificial intelligence — including large language models and generative AI — to ensure the technology pervades critical sectors fast enough, and incentivises the private sector to jump into it. He said some level of upfront government investment is necessary for risky and expensive technologies for the private sector to feel confident enough to invest.

He said the US and China already have national AI computer infrastructures. “The UAE and Saudi Arabia just announced investments. The UK is talking about a national AI incentive… France and Germany, too,” he said on Monday. Krishna was in Delhi for B20, a G20 dialogue forum.