New Delhi, February 18 (IANS). Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday said that India shows strong optimism and confidence in AI, while Western countries are concerned about this emerging technology.
Sunak warned that targeted governance efforts are needed to close the gap.
“I think reducing this trust gap is as much a policy task as it is a technical task,” he said during an informal conversation with Meta’s Chief AI Officer Alexander Wang at the ongoing ‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ here.
Addressing the gathering he said that all over the world, we are seeing different attitudes towards AI. There is immense optimism and confidence in countries like India, while in western countries, we are seeing that concerns about AI still prevail.
Sunak further said that India is a country with immense ambitions and potential in the digital sector, and underlined the extraordinary scale of recent AI investments.
The former British Prime Minister said that this year, big AI companies are going to spend 20 times more money on developing this technology than the US spent on the Manhattan Project (atomic bomb construction).
According to Wang, “We’re in a very exciting period for technology right now. I think we’re in the early stages of growth at a real pace.”
He praised India’s growing influence in the global AI ecosystem and described it as a very positive example.
He said India now has more consumer AI startups than the US.
Wang said that AI is entering a new paradigm.
‘India AI Impact Summit 2026’ is being organized from 16 to 20 February at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The summit brings together policy makers, industrialists, academicians, innovators and civil society representatives from across the world.
–IANS
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