Opinion C Raja Mohan writes: Modi and Trump, in different ways, reshape global discourse on AI

That the summit emphasised “voluntary” commitments rather than treaty-like obligations is a tacit acknowledgement of the sharpening geopolitical contest among the United States, China, and Russia, which has rendered global rule-making nearly impossible.

But it also reflects a shared understanding between India and the US that AI’s disruptive power must be harnessed rather than restrained. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump, in their very different ways, have been central to this redirection. Both leaders are convinced that the future belongs not to those who regulate AI most effectively, but to those who deploy it most ambitiously and sensibly.

For Trump, the goal is plain — American domination of the AI universe in a race he sees primarily against China. For Modi, the aspiration is to use AI to accelerate India’s economic transformation and secure a rightful place for the world’s largest democracy in the fast-evolving global hierarchy of technological power.

The first signals of this shift were visible early in Trump’s second term. Within a week of taking office in January 2025, he overturned Joe Biden’s elaborate efforts to regulate AI, issuing an executive order to “remove the barriers to American leadership”. By the summer, the administration had unveiled an action plan—pointedly titled “Winning the AI Race” — which laid out 90 policy steps aimed at turbocharging innovation, scaling AI infrastructure, and facilitating the export of US AI systems abroad.

At the Paris AI Summit in February 2025, Vice President J D Vance pushed this agenda onto the global stage. Rejecting what he called an “elite European drift toward fear-based regulation”, Vance insisted that the world needed more AI, not less.

This put Washington at odds with Europe’s historic preference for heavy regulation. Although there was no senior US political delegation at the Delhi summit, senior officials, major tech firms, and influential policy voices were present in force—actively shaping discussions and supporting India’s growing leadership role.

If Paris signalled Washington’s ambition, Delhi showcased India’s. Modi, an early and enthusiastic promoter of AI, used the Paris summit to secure the hosting rights for the 2026 gathering with a clear strategic purpose: To insert India as a central player in global AI discourse and to mobilise international support for India’s domestic technological acceleration.

Three interlocked elements underpin Modi’s AI strategy.

First is India’s formidable talent pool that is itching to take off. Second is the capacity of Indian capital to invest at scale — demonstrated at the summit through major AI commitments by Ambani, Adani, and Tata. Third is the deepening partnership with the US and its tech giants.

This trifecta — talent, capital, and partnership — has become the foundation of India’s AI ambitions.

Some observers will be tempted to see a contradiction between India’s push for “sovereign AI” and Trump adviser Sriram Krishnan’s call for America’s partners to adopt the “American AI stack.” But Modi’s approach is built on the conviction that India can only build sovereign capacity by working with the most advanced AI ecosystem in the world.

This conviction has survived recent turbulence in India-US ties. As Modi once quipped during his 2023 visit to Washington, “AI means America and India” — a formulation that remains central to Delhi’s geopolitical calculus.

Modi’s expansive engagement with US tech CEOs over the years — who he gathered onstage today — has begun to translate into concrete partnerships. Google’s expanding AI investments in India, and new collaborations unveiled at the summit — Tata with OpenAI, L&T with Nvidia, Infosys with Anthropic to name a few— showcase the depth of the Indo-American technology corridor. As artificial intelligence becomes the new driver of economic power, these alliances ensure that India remains plugged into the world’s most advanced innovation networks.

China did not dominate headlines in Delhi, but it did make a powerful appearance. A Chinese-origin robodog, misrepresented as an Indian innovation by a private university, offered an ironic reminder of China’s extraordinary AI capabilities — and of the global stakes in the AI race.

The US decision to invite India into its Pax Silica Initiative, to be formalised on Friday, is designed to reduce dependence on Chinese-led semiconductor supply chains. It underscores Delhi’s role in shaping the geopolitical architecture of the AI world.

India’s bet on AI also reflects a historical insight: latecomers to major technological revolutions can succeed, provided they act boldly. Japan and South Korea did so in electronics; China did so in manufacturing; and India itself did so in IT services.

The reluctance of OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei to hold hands on stage is a reminder that late entrants can take advantage of rivalries among the tech capitalists.

By energising young Indian innovators, encouraging domestic capital to scale up, partnering deeply with US tech giants, and navigating the geopolitics of AI with confidence, Delhi has positioned itself not merely as a participant but as a shaper of the emerging global order of artificial intelligence.

C Raja Mohan is contributing editor on international affairs for The Indian Express. He is associated with the Motwani-Jadeja Institute of American Studies at the Jindal Global University and the Council on Strategic and Defense Studies, Delhi