Need for sovereign AI systems to avoid digital colonialism: Chandrasekaran

There is a need to develop sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) systems in India to avoid the risks associated with digital colonialism, Tata group chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Friday.

“If we don’t develop sovereign AI capabilities, we have a major risk of having all of our activities, languages and cultures being processed by AI systems that don’t understand India. It will take it to a different place, a kind of a digital colonialism that we should avoid,” he said at the Mumbai Tech Week 2025.