Updated March 5, 2026
0:00 Welcome to Colaberry AI podcast brought to you by Colaberry AI Research Labs and Carl Foundation. Today, we're doing a deep dive into where India stands, you know, globally in AI research. And specifically looking at the collaborative AI research labs or ARRL and what they're setting out to do. Yeah. Our discussion is mostly based on some clips from a keynote by Ram Dhan Yadav, Katamiraja, which you can find on the Kullo Foundation's YouTube channel. 0:25 Exactly. So our mission here is to kind of unpack the challenges India faces in AI and, see how Carole plans to tackle them based on what was said in that keynote. Okay. So the keynote kicks off by setting a sort of global benchmark. Right? 0:39 It mentions Massachusetts. Right. As a major hub for AI innovation, they put in, what, $500,000,000? Yeah. Half $1,000,000,000 focused on growing AI talent. 0:48 And then the speaker immediately asks, well, where does India fit into this picture? Despite having a lot of talent and research is happening. Uh-huh. The question is about India's actual global standing. How does it really stack up? 1:00 And the data shared, well, it paints a pretty clear, maybe sobering picture. China's way ahead in university rankings for AI. Eight out of the top 10, apparently. That's huge. It really is. 1:13 And then look at research papers published. China's output is significantly more than The US, which used to lead. And India, according to the keynote. Mhmm. Well, it says India is nowhere to be seen on that metric. 1:24 Which is quite a statement, and it's not just AI. Right? This This pattern holds for other key areas too. Yeah. Advanced manufacturing energy, similar story. 1:33 So the potential is there, but maybe not translating into that top tier global research output yet. Okay. So let's broaden the view slightly. The keynote also touched on GDP, didn't it? It did briefly. 1:45 Comparing India and China historically, apparently, India actually had a larger GDP way back. But over the last couple of thousand years, there's been a huge divergence. China's economy just took off. Right. And now China's substantially larger than India's, though The US is still number one overall. 2:01 But interestingly, the keynote mentioned a different feeling within India. Right. More optimism about the future. Yeah. It's a strong sense of positive sentiment about future growth despite the current numbers. 2:13 It's an interesting contrast. Okay. So this is the backdrop. China and The US leading in AI, India looking to make its mark. And that's where Carel comes in, launched in 2024. 2:23 Exactly. The keynote presents Carel as this really key initiative designed to, build up India's AI ecosystem. Bringing everyone together, government, industry. Practitioners, investors, academia, research, all the key players. The idea is to create fertile ground for AI to really grow. 2:42 So what are its specific goals? What's CaraRL actually trying to do? Well, the keynote laid out a few key objectives. First, really pushing AI for social good, using it to solve big societal problems. Okay. 2:53 That's important. What else? Also, a major focus on boosting the quality and, you know, the impact of AI research coming out of India, making it world class. And building the workforce too, I imagine. Definitely. 3:02 Creating a more inclusive and skilled AI workforce and just generally fostering more innovation in the field. They mentioned collaboration's already happening. Right. So how does Carlisle plan to support the community? What are the practical offerings? 3:16 Its position is a connector, bridging gaps between academia, research labs, companies, and the government. Making things more visible, like grants and jobs. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. 3:26 Highlighting funding opportunities, important research findings, job openings within India's AI scene, and also setting up working groups. Working groups for what? To speed up AI adoption in different sectors. It sounds very much like a community driven thing. That's what the keynote stressed, didn't it? 3:43 Community driven. Absolutely. Encouraging wide participation. And, there was a direct message towards the end too. Oh, yeah. 3:50 To who? Directly to PhD scholars, researchers, people early in their careers, calling them the backbone of India's AI future. Ah, I see. Positioning Corel as something to help them unlock their potential. Exactly. 4:03 Empowering them to make a real contribution and lift India's standing globally. So putting it all together, the keynote suggests India has the talent, the potential, but there's a gap in terms of, let's say, top tier global research impact compared to The US and China. Right. And KRL is trying to bridge that gap by building this collaborative ecosystem, supporting research, driving innovation, developing talent. It's clearly a long term strategy, a big vision. 4:30 The keynote sets out a pretty ambitious road map. It does. It really does. Which leaves us and you listening with a thought. If initiatives like CAROL are trying to build these networks and resources, how can individual researchers, innovators like those PhD students mentioned best plug into that? 4:46 How can they personally leverage this ecosystem to really make a difference for India's AI future on the world stage? That's the crucial question, isn't it? Figuring out how to make those connections and collaborations actually work effectively. Thank you for listening in. Subscribe and follow Colaberry on social media links in the description, and check out our website, www.colabri.a I backslash podcast for more insights like this.
