Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forward-thinking approach to artificial intelligence (AI), revealing that Modi had requested him to address the cabinet on AI nearly six years ago—long before AI became a global priority. “About six years ago, when I first met Modi Ji, he asked me to meet his cabinet and address them about artificial intelligence,” Huang noted in a recent conversation with Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani in Mumbai. He added, “I was so surprised. It was literally the first time any government leader had asked me to address his cabinet on this particular topic (AI).”
This initiative by Modi stood out to Huang, who emphasized that the request came “long before anybody was talking about artificial intelligence.” Huang shared that in their latest meeting, Modi expressed a “profound” vision for India’s role in AI: “It makes complete sense that India should manufacture its own AI, instead of outsourcing data to import intelligence.”
In a separate conversation with *India Today*, Huang highlighted Modi’s emphasis on India establishing its own AI expertise. He responded to questions about India’s potential role in the AI era by urging the country to prioritize local AI innovation rather than outsourcing talent to foreign development projects. “Why export the labour while the software is built elsewhere? Why not manufacture the intelligence here and then export it,” Huang suggested, advocating for India’s position as a global AI leader rather than a back-office provider.
Huang believes India has the “data, energy, and the infrastructure” necessary to lead in AI, remarking, “There are many Indians out there who will enjoy Hindi on their phone, everywhere around the world. Those tokens should be manufactured here (India). That intelligence should be manufactured here.”
To support this vision, Nvidia recently introduced the Hindi AI model, Nemotron-4-Mini-Hindi-4B, designed to empower Indian companies to build their own AI models, marking a significant step towards India’s independent AI advancement.
