India charts third path in AI governance beyond US and China models

India is seeking to carve out a distinct path in the global artificial intelligence landscape, aiming to avoid being solely reliant on either the US's corporate-led innovation model or China's state-driven approach. This strategy was highlighted when Anthropic, a US-based AI company, temporarily disabled its AI models for international users due to US export directives, demonstrating the potential for external control over India's AI future.

As India hosts the India-AI Impact Summit, the country is increasingly presenting itself as a viable "third way" in AI governance. This approach prioritizes public value, interoperable infrastructure, and practical governance over ideological alignment. Central to this strategy is India's Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), which includes systems like Aadhaar for digital identity, UPI for payments, and ONDC for e-commerce. These systems are viewed as public goods that can be scaled and exported.

India has already signed cooperation agreements on DPI with over twenty countries across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, with several African nations actively adopting components of the India Stack. UPI, India's real-time payment system, has expanded its availability to countries such as the UAE, Singapore, and France. Similarly, India's digital document verification framework, DigiLocker, is being adapted by nations like Kenya and the UAE. This initiative to share DPI components, rather than resell them, aims to foster sovereign digital capabilities globally.