AI progress will not happen by 'drift', needs urgency: CEA Nageswaran

Nageswaran warned that without careful and calibrated action, rapid technological change could create social and economic instability

Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran on Monday said that artificial intelligence (AI) progress will not happen by "drift". While speaking at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Nageswaran stressed that it requires urgency, political will, and strong state capacity.

 

Addressing a session on 'Employability in the AI Age: Preparing for the Jobs of Tomorrow', he underlined that India must move with clear intent if it wants to benefit from AI.

 

Nageswaran said, "India can become the first large society where human abundance and machine intelligence reinforce, and not undermine, each other. This will not happen by drift; this will require an urgent say. It will require political will, it will require state capacity, and it will require a clear national commitment to aligning technological adoption with mass employability. It has to be a Team India effort, including the private sector and academics, as well as policymakers. The window is still open, but it is not indefinite