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In focus
- India’s next tech test to manage global AI giants
- Indonesia’s startup founder shortage
- An Indonesian modest fashion brand is expanding. Here’s why this old piece still matters
Hello reader,
OpenAI quietly started hiring in India earlier this year, and Anthropic quickly followed. This signals that the world’s biggest AI players were officially setting up shop in the country.
But their arrival couldn’t come at a trickier time.
Relations between the US and India have soured of late due to rising trade tensions and tighter H-1B visa fees for Indian workers in the US. The question of how much access India should grant to foreign AI firms has taken center stage.
Industry voices are divided. Some say OpenAI and Anthropic’s entry could supercharge innovation and create jobs. Others warn it could risk India’s digital sovereignty if left unchecked, much like what happened with Google and Meta a decade ago.
In today’s feature, we unpack the debates, policies, and power plays shaping India’s AI moment, and why the country, one of the world’s largest data-rich democracies, now finds itself walking a tightrope between openness and control.
Meanwhile, my colleague Randy interviews Bukalapak founder Achmad Zaky, who says the shortage of startup founders – and not the funding crunch – is the biggest concern for Indonesia’s economic growth.
Samreen Ahmad, journalist
Top Stories
1️⃣ Will India’s trade tensions spill over to OpenAI, Anthropic?
Image credit: Arsal Ysfin
As OpenAI and Anthropic expand in India, experts discuss the brewing tension between innovation and sovereignty.
With global AI giants eyeing India’s vast data market, the government faces a test of how to stay open to tech progress without ceding control of its digital future.
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