THE tech world has seen a rattling entry of Chinese firm DeepSeek’s R1 LLM model of Artificial Intelligence last week. A relatively unknown company until a few months ago, DeepSeek has clearly caught all the tech giants around the world off guard with its open-source AI model. It is now a direct fight between OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DeepSeek’s LLM while the world watches in amusement the shifting battleground for the United States Vs China fight. The entry of DeepSeek in the AI universe is a disrupting moment in the history of advanced technology. It has challenged the rigid tech framework controlled by the United States and also underlined the high capacity of China in building cutting-edge tech with home-grown industry backed by an unrelenting ambition of the Government. It has already outperformed ChatGPT and other advanced Large Language Models (LLM) on most benchmarks. China is now within touching distance of its rivals in the global AI race with DeepSeek’s blistering arrival in the fast lane.

 

As the world debates the implications of China’s rise in the AI sector comparisons have also started between the available options. Initial search results have shown that DeepSeek’s ability to collate data from open source is much better than Google. The presentation is in a far better format than the list of links provided by Google as an answer. Yet, there is a big problem with DeepSeek. It is the typical China problem of opaqueness. The AI bot simply skirts all questions related to China, its leadership, its policies, and its people’s rights with a blunt reply of ‘not in scope’. It raises concerns over DeepSeek's credibility and it also reflects the Chinese style to press on its own agenda through narratives built by Artificial Intelligence. The disruption caused by DeepSeek gives a peek into the future of the world and geopolitics. There is no doubt that AI is poised for a greater role in human lives in every sphere. A country’s ability, economic power, societal advancement and military superiority is set to be defined by AI in the future.

 

The global AI race is an indicator of what the world is thinking as countries leading in AI innovation will be in a position to negotiate in geopolitical matters and hold influence in international alliances. The message is clear of India – it cannot be too late to the global party. Time is ripe for an Indian AI model, shaped by its own brains and prepared by using its rich civilisational history, to make a stellar debut in the world of technology. The National AI Mission is already on the job of creating India’s own Artificial Intelligence models. Many start-ups are taking deep interest in delivering their own products but the scale of developing an Indian AI bot is too large. Making an Indian narrative of AI calls for huge research and LLMs compatible with the diverse cultures, rich history, and languages. India is definitely making good progress in building its own models with the Government taking AI projects as a priority mission. The DeepSeek moment, thus, is an opportunity for India to take a whole-of-nation approach and increase spending on AI development like the US and China’s budgets for technology.

 

The emergence of the US and China as top players with their own tech models gives India a ready template for developing its own AI search engines by easily removing the political part of using Artificial Intelligence. The models given by the US and China seek dominance as masters of technology. The thinking stems from their imperialist approach. Both are governed by the ‘Nation-State’ philosophy while India is still a ‘Civilisation-Nation’ always aiming at the good of the larger society. This will be the basic difference between the Indian AI model and the rest of the world’s models. India has the capability of becoming a tech giant with ethical use of AI in a quick time. There are still many hurdles created specifically by the US which controls the tech framework. It restricts the availability of high-performance AI chips like graphics processing units which are essential for training and deploying sophisticated AI models. These chips are the backbone of high-end computational tasks.

 

The journey ahead is full of hurdles but India also has past success stories, which overcame many such impediments put up by the West, to look up to. The AI story can easily seek parallels with India’s remarkable success in the space sector. India was mocked for its space dreams by the very nations who are now seeking collaborations with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for future projects. Denied basic resources by the top powers, the ISRO went on to build its own capabilities with cost-effective solutions. ISRO used the snub to fuel the fire within and now India sits at the global table with equal rights when it comes to space research. India’s tech sector must draw inspiration from the success of ISRO and also from the phenomenal feat of introduction of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) to realise its dream with indigenous capabilities.

 

The key now is developing a sense of urgency, national focus and a strategic vision. The entry of DeepSeek must be taken as a new hope by Indian companies. It says that an AI model can be built on top of open-source information. All it needs is a careful sifting adhering to the Indian thinking. India’s AI mission has to switch into the top gear to ensure technological self-reliance. It entails dedicated efforts in R&D, investment in talent and infrastructure, and healthy spending by the Government. Much like the space technology, it is indeed time for the Indian AI to make a grand entry in the fast lane.n