The last decade has demonstrated how the United States, as the world’s leading power, can exercise significant economic control against nations it thinks of as competition. They removed Russia from international payment rails. Similar pressure has been applied to China through various measures: new tariffs, product bans, and other restrictions, marking an escalation of tensions between the two nations. The new Cold War.

China is also not far behind when it comes to exerting global influence. See what they are doing in Africa. And now that India is trying to catch up in manufacturing they are doing this. As AI becomes increasingly crucial over the coming decades, nations must consider their technological sovereignty. Owning and controlling foundational AI models becomes a necessity. 

The key is developing AI models trained on a nation’s own data. See Sarvam’s approach. You need to align your model to your values and perspectives. I am sure the Chinese and US models have been fine-tuned to give different answers to particularly sensitive topics. See the screenshots below. Yes, the question is controversial, but both ChatGPT and Claude give a balanced answer while Deepseek refuses to respond.

Nations need to invest in developing their own AI models that align with their national interests and strategic objectives.

Yes, Deepseek is amazing, and I am happy how open source is catching up. I love using Advanced Voice on ChatGPT and Claude for my random side projects.

But if I was Modi, I would start a Manhattan Project scale project in AI. It is far far important to not do so.