Is India Becoming a Digital Colony in the AI Race? | AI Governance & Sovereignty | With Jibu Elias

Is India at risk of becoming a digital colony in the global AI race?

In this episode of the Regulating AI Podcast, recorded live at the Universal AI Awards launch in Delhi, Soundarya Jayachandran speaks with Jibu Elias from Mozilla Foundation about AI governance, India’s position in the global AI ecosystem, Big Tech, open-source AI, digital sovereignty, and the future of India’s workforce.

The conversation explores how India can ensure that the future of AI remains open, competitive and accountable rather than being controlled by a handful of powerful technology companies.

Jibu argues that India should recognize the strength of its massive market, invest in AI infrastructure, compute, data and talent, and make strategic use of both open-source and closed AI models rather than simply trying to build another foundation model.

The discussion also examines the darker side of the AI revolution — including regulatory capture, exploitative data practices, intellectual property concerns, AI bias, hallucinations, environmental costs, and the growing influence of AI systems over human decision-making.

One of the most striking parts of the conversation focuses on AI psychosis and emotional dependence on AI chatbots. Jibu shares his own experience of developing an unexpected level of trust in an AI conversation and discusses why increasingly human-like AI systems can become psychologically persuasive.

Looking further ahead, the conversation asks whether India could repeat the mistakes of its IT boom — becoming dependent on low-cost talent rather than building genuine innovation — and whether the country could ultimately become a “digital colony” supplying data, labour and infrastructure to global AI companies.

The episode ends with a powerful argument for India to build its own AI capabilities, empower its best talent, strengthen its open-source ecosystem, solve local problems with AI, and ensure that young Indians become builders rather than simply consumers of AI.

Chapters:

00:00 – AI, humans and the future of technology

00:35 – Why responsible AI and accountability matter

01:07 – Can India prevent Big Tech gatekeeping?

01:30 – Why India underestimates its AI potential

02:10 – India’s massive AI market and strategic advantage

02:50 – Does India need its own foundation model?

03:04 – Using AI to solve India’s biggest challenges

03:45 – Open-source AI vs. closed AI models

04:06 – The AI infrastructure and talent India needs

04:29 – India, China and the global AI race

04:45 – Are socioeconomic issues being left behind?

04:59 – Why the AI existential-risk narrative matters

05:40 – The danger of regulatory capture

06:13 – How AI was built: labour, data and intellectual property

07:26 – AI scraping, energy use and environmental costs

07:42 – Bias, hallucinations and AI accountability

08:08 – Can AI influence human agency?

08:44 – Is the internet becoming redundant?

09:24 – What is AI psychosis?

09:47 – When people become emotionally dependent on AI

10:27 – AI, mental health and dangerous conversations

11:30 – Why do humans trust AI so easily?

12:27 – Why AI models are designed to be engaging

13:17 – How technology influences our psychology

13:50 – Is AI really neutral and unbiased?

14:38 – The future of AI accountability

14:54 – What should India have gotten right?

15:09 – Learning from India’s IT revolution

16:21 – Did India become too comfortable with cheap talent?

17:17 – The collapse of entry-level tech jobs

18:04 – India’s AI talent and education challenge

18:29 – Could India become a digital colony?

19:22 – Data centres, resources and the cost of AI

20:04 – Why AI may repeat the mistakes of the Industrial Revolution

20:35 – Building India’s AI infrastructure and talent

21:24 – Using AI to solve India’s real problems

21:40 – Building India’s open-source AI ecosystem

21:48 – Setting boundaries for Big Tech in India

22:11 – Finding and empowering India’s AI talent

22:33 – Why India needs more AI builders

22:41 – From AI consumers to AI builders

22:53 – The future of responsible AI in India

23:00 – Closing thoughts

Guest: Jibu Elias

Host: Sanjay Puri

Podcast: Regulating AI

Recorded live: Universal AI Awards Launch, New Delhi

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