‘India now has the ingredients to build frontier AI’: Shyamal Anadkat, Former researcher at OpenAI

After nearly four years at OpenAI, Shyamal Anadkat, former researcher with the AI firm, returned to India earlier this year to build a stealth venture focused on AI for scientific discovery. In an interview with Poulomi Chatterjee, he discusses India’s AI opportunity, the talent returning from global labs and lessons from OpenAI. Excerpts:

Q. What made you return to India?

I grew up in India and moved to the US after 18. But over the past few years, I felt increasingly connected to the ecosystem here. The startup landscape has gained momentum, and I had worked with companies such as Portkey and Composia before joining OpenAI. Sarvam’s growth in sovereign AI has also been exciting.