Indian Billionaires Turn to AI to Become Trillionaires

Indian billionaires have a newfound love - artificial intelligence, which would now help them become trillionaires, obviously. According to recent reports, billionaire Binny Bansal is launching an AI-as-a-service startup that will target global customers, and then enable their AI needs. The head wants to shift to the fastest growing sector in the economy, after making a fortune in Indian e-commerce.

Bansal aims to assemble a dream team of 15 brilliant minds, primarily AI experts, in his latest endeavour. Sources in the know reveal that he's on a mission to offer a blend of AI products and services to corporate clientele, mimicking the modus operandi of outsourcing giants like TCS and Infosys. 

Tapping into India’s best

The heart of this startup is in Bengaluru, while its official HQ resides in Singapore, where it's maintaining a low profile for the moment. It plans to unveil its offerings within a matter of months and even has its sights set on expanding to the U.S. The projected timeline for product and service rollout is set for the latter half of 2024.

When it comes to generative AI, India has a leverage of the vast number of languages that no other country has. Take the example of Project Indus by Tech Mahindra, which is a Indic-based foundational model, which is expected to launch in December this year, or January next year. If Anand Mahindra’s project works out, it might be a game changer for multilingual generative AI globally. 

On the other hand, Bansal's strategy involves tapping into India's large English-speaking, youthful population to train professionals for various AI services. While the specific offerings remain undisclosed, there are indications that the legal and e-commerce sectors will be the initial targets, with potential expansions into financial services, data science, and analytics. 

Indian tech giants such as TCS, Infosys, and Wipro, are also heavily investing in training their employees to tap into the generative AI field. Bansal’s AI startup is also notable for its emphasis on talent development and cost-effective operations in smaller Indian cities with lower costs of living. The idea is clearly focused on building up the Indian workforce. 

Chance to build a trillion dollar company

Vinod Khosla, the billionaire businessman and investor, spoke at Forbes’ Forging the Future of Business with AI’ event, about the immense opportunity that AI presents for all the businesses and entrepreneurs across the globe. “AI is the opportunity for entrepreneurs in the audience if they want to build a trillion dollar company. That's an incredible amount, it's orders of magnitude bigger than Google's current market,” he said. 

At Reliance’s 46th Annual General Meeting, Mukesh Ambani announced his plans to build India-specific AI models. The Jio chief is probably one of those bigwigs from India who can actually challenge OpenAI. “India has scale. India has data. India has talent. But we also need AI-ready digital infrastructure that can handle AI’s immense computational demands,” said Ambani.

Reliance has also partnered with NVIDIA for the same mission. Similarly, Ratan Tata’s TCS, Tata Communications, and Tata Motors, have also partnered with NVIDIA for harnessing India’s generative AI capabilities. The company has been continuously training its employees with generative AI. 

Gautam Adani, another billionaire has been hooked onto ChatGPT since January and his Adani Digital Labs is also focusing on building something similar. He is also planning to set up an AI lab in Tel Aviv, as he says it's a transformational and democratising technology. Adani Group also recently partnered to improve airport travel with AI in Bengaluru. 

We all know about Infosys co-founders, Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilkeni’s investment in generative AI. The tech giant is also partnering with NVIDIA for creating a Centre of Excellence for training 50,000 employees with generative AI. Similarly, Wipro’s Azim Premji also believes that the next decade will be the age of AI. 

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has launched a $3.6 million fund for investing in AI and electric vehicles. Anil Agarwal of Vedanta is investing $5 billion in semiconductor fab in India for AI chipmaking. 

Biocon Limited’s executive chairperson, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw invested an undisclosed amount in Univ.AI, an edtech startup. Kumar Mangalam Birla, the chairperson of Aditya Birla Group has also announced the company’s focus on harnessing generative AI in the works. 

It is clear that all billionaires have understood that AI is the way for them to jump from being a billion dollar company to a trillion dollar one, the fastest way as well.