India eyes open source, homegrown AI amid access curbs on frontier models

India is pursuing a strategy of focusing on open-source artificial intelligence models as well as homegrown ones while supporting local developers to build more advanced systems, a senior IT Ministry official said on Tuesday as global concerns mount over access restrictions on some frontier AI models.

Citing national security concerns, the US has tightened access to advanced frontier AI technologies that has prompted a debate in tech circles and the larger public on questions of equitable access, innovation, and global AI development.