AI Futures: The Road to the India AI Impact Summit 2026

In the consumer internet era, startups could scale quickly without heavy R&D. But how is the age of AI fundamentally different? And can India truly build its own Sovereign AI stack? In this episode of AI Futures, host Anirudh Suri speaks with Prof. Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Professor at IIT Bombay and Principal Investigator of BharatGen to unpack why research and academia are now the backbone of in...

In this episode of the AI Futures Podcast, host Anirudh sat down with Didier Nkurikiyimfura from Smart Africa, who shares insights from across the continent, spanning governments, startups, and regional institutions working at the frontlines of digital transformation. This episode unpacks:- How African countries are thinking about AI today, in terms of both opportunities and risks?- How does Afric...

In this episode of the AI Futures Podcast, host Anirudh Suri speaks with Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras and chief architect of India’s first indigenous microprocessor, Shakti. A recipient of the Padma Shri, he has been at the forefront of India’s AI and technology research. This episode explores India’s journey from political independence to its goal of technological sovereignty by 2047...

In this episode of the AI Futures Podcast, recorded at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, host Anirudh Suri sat down with one of the youngest speakers at the Summit — 16-year-old AI builder, entrepreneur, and content creator, Raul Aju, often called "AI Kid of India”From starting a YouTube channel to building AI tools, teaching workshops, and training aspiring young founders, Raul represents a g...

Does India have all the elements of a globally competitive AI research ecosystem? And, is AI making students smarter—or just lazier? In this episode of the AI Futures podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Professor Mausam, one of the "100 most influential people in AI" and a founding head of the Yardi School of AI at IIT Delhi. Together, they go beyond the hype to explore the true st...

In this episode of the AI Futures Podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Vilas Dhar, President of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, member of the UN High Level Advisory Body on AI, and Harvard Kennedy School alum, to unpack Vilas' unique perspective on how technology can be harnessed as a force for global good. The conversation explores Vilas’s personal journey—from a childhood split between...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with *Ambassador Thomas Schneider* who led the negotiations for the *world's first binding international treaty on Artificial Intelligence.* Ambassador Schneider shares his views on how Switzerland is adopting a decentralised, bottoms up approach to devising its AI strategy, unlike other countries that have a top-down, centra...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, host Anirudh Suri, tech investor and policy advisor, sits down with Jeetu Patel, President and Chief Product Officer of Cisco, for a raw and visionary conversation about the AI revolution. This conversation is a deep exploration of how AI is reshaping business, labor, and society, interwoven with the inspiring story of how Jeetu rose to one of the most...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* Podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Anne Neuberger, former U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology under the Biden administration, to explore the intersection of AI and cybersecurity. As cyber conflict has evolved from a human-led “cat-and-mouse” game to a machine-against-machine battlefield, we unpack critical questions in...

In this episode of the AI Futures Podcast, Anirudh Suri sits down with Iqbal Dhaliwal, the Global Executive Director of MIT’s Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), at the India AI Impact Summit. They explore the shift from traditional technology in development to the rapid rise of AI, focusing on how countries like India can leverage these tools for the public good while avoiding common pitfalls of "hy...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* Podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Ren Ito, the Co-founder and CEO of Sakana AI—Japan’s fastest-ever unicorn startup. Ren brings a unique perspective to the table, blending 15 years of experience in the Japanese Foreign Service with leadership roles at tech giants like Mercari. They explore why the future of AI isn't just a "bigger is better&quot...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* Podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Ren Ito, the Co-founder and CEO of Sakana AI—Japan’s fastest-ever unicorn startup. Ren brings a unique perspective to the table, blending 15 years of experience in the Japanese Foreign Service with leadership roles at tech giants like Mercari. They explore why the future of AI isn't just a "bigger is better&quot...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Jay Chaudhry, the entrepreneur behind Zscaler and a pioneer in the cybersecurity world. From his humble beginnings in a small village in Himachal Pradesh to founding a string of groundbreaking tech companies in Silicon Valley, Jay shares his unique perspective on the "mega waves" of technology and why he believ...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Jay Chaudhry, the entrepreneur behind Zscaler and a pioneer in the cybersecurity world. From his humble beginnings in a small village in Himachal Pradesh to founding a string of groundbreaking tech companies in Silicon Valley, Jay shares his unique perspective on the "mega waves" of technology and why he believes *AI is...

In this episode of *AI Futures* , host Anirudh Suri sits down with Professor Yoshua Bengio — Turing Award winner and one of the world’s most influential AI researchers, and chair of the International AI Safety Report (2025 and 2026) — for a wide-ranging conversation on what the next phase of AI progress could mean for global power, economic inequality, and human control. As AI systems grow more ca...

In this episode of *AI Futures* , host Anirudh Suri sits down with Professor Yoshua Bengio — Turing Award winner and one of the world’s most influential AI researchers, and chair of the International AI Safety Report (2025 and 2026) — for a wide-ranging conversation on what the next phase of AI progress could mean for global power, economic inequality, and human control. As AI systems grow more ca...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, Anirudh Suri sits down with UN Under-Secretary General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies, Amandeep Gill. USG Gill offers a glimpse into the global governance of AI, the "looming AI divide," and the urgent need for international cooperation to prevent a "second great divergence" between the Global North and South...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, host Anirudh Suri will sit down with Amandeep Gill, the UN Under-Secretary General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies. USG Gill offers a glimpse into the global governance of AI, the "looming AI divide," and the urgent need for international cooperation to prevent a "second great divergence" between the Global No...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, we speak with Professor Stuart Russell, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the world’s leading experts on artificial intelligence, and the author of the field’s standard textbook, _AI: A Modern Approach_ .The *AI Futures* podcast series is hosted by Anirudh Suri, in collaboration with the *Ministry of Electronics and Informati...

In this episode of the *AI Futures* podcast, we speak with Professor Stuart Russell, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, one of the world’s leading experts on artificial intelligence, and the author of the field’s standard textbook, _AI: A Modern Approach_ .The *AI Futures* podcast series is hosted by Anirudh Suri, in collaboration with the *Ministry of Electronics and Informati...

*As France passes the Global AI Summit baton to India, what can we expect from the upcoming India AI Impact Summit 2026?* In the first episode of our podcast series *AI Futures: The Road to the India AI Impact Summit 2026* , we speak with Anne Bouverot, Special AI Envoy of the French President Emmanuel Macron. Bouverot organized the previous global AI summit - The AI Action Summit - in Paris in 20...

As the global AI summit baton passes from Paris to Delhi, what does the next phase of AI governance really look like? In the first episode of AI Futures , we speak with Anne Bouverot, Special Envoy of the French President, who organized the AI Action Summit in Paris in 2025. We unpack how the global AI race is shifting beyond a US–China race, and why countries like India and France want to be acto...

#AIFuturesPodcast #IndiaAI #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026 We’re excited to launch AI Futures: The Road to the India AI Impact Summit 2026 - the official podcast of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 being hosted by India in New Delhi from Feb 15 - 20, 2026. As India takes centre stage in global AI conversations following the Paris AI Summit last year, this series is the official podcast of the India AI Imp...