Google’s new initiative for startups spurs India’s AI sovereignty question

Google’s new programme to support Indian AI startups has prompted analysts to caution that it may only increase reliance on Big Tech, even as a top executive at the technology behemoth said that the initiative will not involve direct capital infusion or equity stakes.

The market-access programme, announced last week, is aimed at helping 30 Indian AI startups per cohort beyond the seed stage, and it’s the “first of its kind that we’re launching in India,” Seema Rao, managing director for top partners India and corporate development at Google, told Mint.