Key Points
- India’s AI debate is shifting from rapid adoption to trust and accountability.
- Cybersecurity resilience is now essential as AI expands enterprise and consumer risks.
- India needs local AI systems for farmers, creators and underserved public users.
Jaspreet Bindra has spent years watching artificial intelligence evolve from a back-office tool to something that now writes, edits, translates and creates alongside human workers. The shift, says the co-founder and CEO of AI & Beyond, means AI is “no longer just a support tool” but is becoming “an active collaborator” in Indian workplaces.
That observation, made as technology leaders marked National Technology Day, captures a broader change in India’s AI conversation. The question is no longer which organisation can deploy the technology fastest. It is whether these systems can be trusted by the people who use them — in workplaces, on farms, in creative studios and across public-facing services where mistakes carry real consequences.
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This is India’s AI trust test. The country has embraced rapid adoption, but the harder work of building norms around security, authenticity and responsible use is only beginning. What emerges from that work will determine whether AI delivers on its promise or creates new categories of risk that undermine public confidence.
In content creation, education, healthcare, customer service and media, AI is already helping users work faster and personalise services at scale. The creative economy shows this most clearly. AI tools now handle storyboarding, editing, multilingual dubbing, voice recreation, production workflows and recommendation systems.
This is lowering production costs and giving smaller creators access to capabilities that were earlier available mainly to large organisations with deeper resources. A regional content creator can now produce multilingual video at a fraction of what it would have cost five years ago.
But the same technology that enables this democratisation creates a harder problem. As AI-generated content becomes more realistic, the line between authentic and synthetic media is becoming harder to detect. Bindra warned that concerns around ‘copyright, authenticity, misinformation, consent, and ethical use’ are becoming impossible to ignore.
India’s AI trust test
The tools that help a small creator produce a multilingual video can also be used to create deepfakes or misleading content. India’s AI moment is therefore also a governance test. The country does not only need more adoption. It needs clearer norms around responsible use, especially in sectors where trust is central to public confidence.
Dr Sanjay Katkar, joint managing director, Quick Heal Technologies, sees the trust question through the lens of security. Technology, he said, is now ‘intertwined in almost every aspect of our lives’, making the security of India’s digital ecosystem a core requirement rather than an optional layer.
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That point matters because AI is expanding both the defensive and offensive capabilities of the digital world. Security tools can use AI to detect threats faster, but attackers can also use automation to scale phishing, impersonation and vulnerability discovery. For consumers, small businesses and institutions, the result is a more complex threat environment.
Parag Khurana, country manager for India, Barracuda Networks, put the issue plainly: ‘Building cyber resilience means being prepared for disruption, not just trying to prevent it.’ That distinction is important. A mature security posture is not built on the assumption that every attack can be stopped. It depends on visibility, identity protection, email security, response capability and recovery planning.
The same logic applies to AI tools themselves. As organisations embed AI into business operations, these tools will need the same scrutiny as other critical systems. Governance, data integrity and safeguards against AI-enabled attacks cannot be treated as afterthoughts.
Beyond enterprise technology, AI’s real test in India may lie in sectors where users are not technologists. Agriculture is one such area, and the numbers are substantial.
Rajesh Shirole, co-founder and chief operating officer, MapMyCrop, said Indian farming is already seeing technology become part of everyday decision-making. Farmers are using information on weather patterns, crop health and field conditions to plan better and reduce uncertainty. According to Shirole, tools such as AI, satellite imagery and advisory systems are already reaching over 3.8 crore farmers.
The question is not whether such technology sounds impressive but whether it delivers measurable results for people who have no technical background and no margin for error in their livelihoods. That is the harder standard — and the one that will determine whether India’s AI expansion is remembered as genuine progress or overpromised disruption.
Trust, once lost in these settings, is difficult to rebuild. The next phase of India’s AI story depends not on how fast the technology spreads but on whether it earns the confidence of the people it is meant to serve.
Your Questions, Answered
Why is trust becoming central to India’s AI conversation?
As AI moves beyond experimental use into workplaces, farms and public-facing services, mistakes carry real consequences. Technology leaders argue that without clear norms around security, authenticity and responsible use, rapid adoption may create risks that undermine public confidence.
What are the main AI-related concerns in India’s creative economy?
While AI tools lower production costs and democratise content creation, they also make it harder to distinguish authentic from synthetic media. Concerns include copyright, authenticity, misinformation, consent and ethical use of generative tools.
How is AI reaching Indian farmers?
According to MapMyCrop, AI tools combined with satellite imagery and advisory systems now reach over 3.8 crore Indian farmers, helping them make decisions about weather patterns, crop health and field conditions.
What does cyber resilience mean in the context of AI adoption?
Security experts say cyber resilience means being prepared for disruption rather than assuming every attack can be prevented. This includes visibility, identity protection, email security, response capability and recovery planning.