Dilip Kumar, a prominent investor, has sparked a conversation about India's approach to technology and innovation. In a long post on X, he expressed deep concerns that the country is treating technology superficially, rather than fostering real innovation. Mr Kumar argued that India will struggle to compete with the US and China in technology if it continues to prioritise spectacle over substance. Notably, his comments came in response to an upcoming AI summit in Mumbai, which features a speaker lineup dominated by Bollywood celebrities, cricketers, and YouTube influencers, rather than AI experts.
The investor further pointed out that the featured speakers, who are largely celebrities, have no coding experience. Mr Kumar's frustration stems from comparing India's approach to that of the US and China, which have established themselves as leaders in artificial intelligence. He emphasised that real AI innovation comes from the work of PhDs, engineers, founders, and individuals who actively contribute to coding, model-building, and system deployment.
"A country doesn't become a technology leader through celebrity endorsements or political speeches. India will never be a technology powerhouse if we parade technology as an accessory. Real AI innovation doesn't come from celebrity panels—it comes from builders. PhDs, engineers, founders—people who write code, build models, and deploy systems at scale," he wrote on X.
See the post here:
"The US and China didn't lead in AI because of influencer summits. They did it through university labs, open-source contributions, and startup founders building from first principles. We need to build an ecosystem to listen and learn from builders,'' he added.
His comments come at a time when Hangzhou-based startup DeepSeek has made headlines with its R1 model, which was developed on a relatively modest budget of $6 million and has outperformed models from OpenAI. DeepSeek's success is attributed to its focus on cutting-edge research, university collaborations, and open-source contributions, rather than celebrity endorsements.
"Technology isn't a spectator sport. If India wants to lead, we must put real builders at the centre of the conversation," he concluded the post.
Mr Kumar's remarks resonated with many users, who expressed similar concerns about India's approach to technology and innovation. One user wrote, "e-Bollywoodization of all the scopes directly connected to Indian HD Indices including sports is a must. This should be by declared government policy that these tools should never be used in any event or promotion."
Another commented, "Not just technology, no profession is a spectator sport. We can't rely on Bollywood celebrities and influencers to motivate or speak about things they have no real knowledge of." A third said, "In India entertainment works. There is a thing called escapism and all are doing that. People don't know who to call to speak. They think by calling influencers and actors they will have a crowd. But is that crowd worth it. Because everybody is after the crowd and the views."
