AI Appreciation Day presents an opportunity to recognize the transformative impact of artificial intelligence across various fields, while fostering collaboration and ethical development.
At a time when India is in the thick of a digital revolution, Artificial Intelligence (AI) Appreciation Day on July 16, 2024, marks a pivotal moment to reflect on AI’s transformative impact across the nation. AI is virtually shaping and reshaping all facets of India’s digital life. Its impact now runs the entire gamut from A to Z – be it urban tech hubs or rural villages. AI is redefining industries, healthcare, education, as well as governance.
India’s status as a rising global AI powerhouse is eminently visible in cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune. Government initiatives such as “AI for All” and the National AI Strategy already underscore India’s commitment to harnessing AI for societal benefit.
“AI Appreciation Day is a timely reminder that AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s a business-critical imperative today.”
–Lenovo ISG: Amit Luthra, Managing Director, Lenovo ISG India
At this backdrop, AI Appreciation Day presents an opportunity to recognize the transformative impact of artificial intelligence across various fields, while fostering collaboration and ethical development. It’s a day to marvel at the achievements, critically examine the challenges, and actively participate in shaping an AI-enabled future. It’s an occasion to underline AI’s achievements, spread awareness about its potential, and encourage responsible innovation.
“Securing human as well as machine identities isn’t just a technical necessity, it is foundational to ensuring safe, trustworthy AI innovation in India’s digital future.”
–Sumit Srivastava, Solutions Engineering Director – India, CyberArk
From a Futuristic Concept to a Business Imperative
AI Appreciation Day is a timely reminder that AI is no longer a futuristic concept — it’s a business-critical imperative today. Many organizations today are limited not by their vision, but by the realities of their infrastructure and readiness. Lenovo’s CIO Playbook 2025 reveals that 63% of enterprises in India favor hybrid or on-premises environments for AI workloads, underscoring the urgent need for secure, scalable, and low-latency infrastructure. As AI advances, it is transforming how data is analyzed, decisions are made, and business outcomes are achieved.
“Our AI PCs are designed to be accessible, adaptive, and relevant — empowering students, entrepreneurs, and professionals to solve, create, and lead effectively in their respective contexts.”
– Sooraj Balakrishnan, Associate Director & Head of Marketing, Acer India
Amit Luthra, Managing Director, Lenovo ISG India, says, “At Lenovo, we see the future in Hybrid AI — a secure, flexible, and distributed model that empowers AI to operate wherever it delivers the greatest impact: in the cloud, on-premises, or at the edge. India’s AI journey is still emerging, with 49% of organizations currently evaluating or planning adoption. This signals a meaningful shift from hype to tangible impact, as enterprises focus on building a strong foundation for sustainable growth. On this AI Appreciation Day, it is time for organizations to move beyond experiments and embrace AI as a core driver of growth, inclusion, and real-world value.”
“As AI adoption accelerates, enterprises need more than models — they need orchestration, oversight, and alignment with real-world business outcomes.”
– João Moura, CEO, CrewAI
A Cauldron of Innovation
AI Appreciation Day provides a platform to showcase the latest advancements in AI, including new algorithms, applications, and breakthroughs in fields like healthcare, finance, and more. It’s also an occasion to promote awareness and understanding. It provides a chance to educate the public, industry professionals, and policymakers about the capabilities, benefits, and ethical considerations surrounding AI, encouraging informed discussions and decisions.
Efforts should be made to encourage collaboration among researchers, developers, and industry leaders, facilitating the exchange of ideas, accelerating progress in AI development. By celebrating AI, we can inspire students and young professionals to pursue careers in AI and related fields, ensuring a pipeline of talent for the future.
“By empowering Indian businesses to derive AI-driven insights securely while retaining full control over their infrastructure, we are supporting greater agility, compliance, and insight-driven innovation.”
–Mayank Baid, Regional Vice President, India & South Asia, Cloudera
“On AI Appreciation Day, we honor the extraordinary advances in Artificial Intelligence and its power to redefine our world. Over the years, AI has become a key enabler of digital transformation. In fact, our recent survey, titled The Future of Enterprise AI Agents, revealed that 84% of Indian respondents said they have implemented AI agents in the past two years, and 98% plan to expand their use in the coming years. At Cloudera, we are committed to the rapid deployment of trusted AI by enabling organizations to integrate any AI model with secure and governed data across hybrid environments. By empowering Indian businesses to derive AI-driven insights securely while retaining full control over their infrastructure, we are supporting greater agility, compliance, and insight-driven innovation. This aligns seamlessly with Digital India’s goals and the nation’s digital upskilling efforts,” says Mayank Baid, Regional Vice President, India & South Asia, Cloudera.
“At its best, AI augments, not replaces, human potential, reducing the inefficiencies and chaos in the system.”
– Jay Modh, Founder & CEO, Intuitive.Cloud
“AI Appreciation Day is more than a celebration of technology — it’s a reflection on how AI is reshaping the way we work, where human and AI collaboration drives lasting value. At CrewAI, we believe the future lies in multi-agentic driven workflows: intelligent agents that operate with autonomy, align with business goals, and collaborate with people as capable teammates. These agents aren’t just responding to prompts — they’re reasoning, coordinating, and driving complex workflows end-to-end. Through our partnership with Cloudera, we help organizations operationalize these agents securely across hybrid environments, ensuring performance at scale without compromising compliance or control,” says João Moura, CEO, CrewAI.
“India’s becoming a global hotspot for AI talent and has a booming startup scene, so it’s not just adopting AI, but actively shaping its future.”
Overcoming the Ethical Conundrum
The limitless blessings of AI notwithstanding, there has been rising concerns among naysayers about the unethical side of AI. Thus, it’s crucial to address the ethical implications of AI as it continues to evolve. AI Appreciation Day provides a space for conversations about responsible development and the potential societal impacts of AI.
“On this AI Appreciation Day, we’re not just celebrating what AI can do, but how we choose to build it. As it becomes more and more part of our daily lives, it’s our shared responsibility to guide its development for the benefit of everyone,” says Vishal Ghariwala, APAC CTO, SUSE.
“The world is now living in the Post AI Era. We should celebrate AI’s potential to lift humanity from boring mundane tasks and become more creative and productive.”
-Prashant Iyer, CEO and Co-Founder, M37Labs
Welcoming the march of AI, Prashant Iyer, CEO and Co-Founder of M37Labs, says, “The world is now living in the Post AI Era. As we celebrate AI Appreciation Day on July 16th, we should celebrate AI’s potential to lift humanity from boring mundane tasks and become more creative and productive.”
“Fear mongering is becoming a big downer in social media and we need to embrace the good things of AI and move forward to the next level of humani-AI-robotic evolution,” he adds.
“The real opportunity lies in how AI can augment teams: helping them move faster, surface insights in the moment, and cut through the complexity that slows work down.”
-Rahul Sharma, VP – Sales, Salesforce India
Amplifying Human Effort
AI represents one of the most transformative forces of our time. It challenges us to think differently, act faster, and design solutions that are not just intelligent but also deeply human-centered. Nishant Rathi, Founder and Director of NeoSOFT, says, “As we celebrate AI, we must focus on utilizing its vast potential with empathy and purpose. The true promise of AI lies not in replacing human intelligence, but rather in amplifying it to solve real-world problems and build a better, more equitable future.”
“At its best, AI augments, not replaces, human potential, reducing the inefficiencies and chaos in the system. The real opportunity is to build intelligently, scale responsibly, and lead with clarity,” echoes Jay Modh, Founder & CEO of Intuitive.Cloud.
“The true promise of AI lies not in replacing human intelligence, but rather in amplifying it to solve real-world problems and build a better, more equitable future.”
– Nishant Rathi, Founder and Director, NeoSOFT
Search Fuelling AI Bandwagon
In India, AI has rapidly evolved over the last few years. It is now able to learn and create a wide range of creative responses far quicker than humans. Fueling this evolution is search, which enables AI applications not only to learn but also to extract value from data. Search underpins effective AI applications by providing fast and accurate access to data.
“While not immediately apparent, search drives many of the applications and services that we use frequently. For example, India’s largest jobs and professional networking platform, Apna, uses AI and search to connect 50 million registered users and 600,000 employers. The service provides users with highly relevant and personalised job notifications while connecting employers with candidates that match their hiring criteria. AI and search also play a massive role in providing real-time visibility into business-critical systems and ensuring that they run at peak performance,” says Karthik Rajaram, Area Vice President & General Manager, Elastic India.
“AI forms the foundation of Happiest Minds’ digital transformation journey. Through our Analytics & AI Center of Excellence and Gen-AI Business Services unit, we deliver scalable, secure, and responsible AI solutions.”
– Sridhar Mantha, CEO, Generative AI Business Services (GBS) at Happiest Minds Technologies
This visibility across multiple data sources enables companies to unify their security operations into a single platform, improving threat detection, reducing false positives, and strengthening their security posture. “By fusing search with AI, companies can unlock the full potential of their structured and unstructured data to make better decisions, maximise efficiency and elevate customer experiences,” advises Karthik.
Acknowledging the Innovators
More than anything else, it’s a day to acknowledge the valuable contributions of AI researchers, developers, and practitioners who are driving innovation and shaping the future with AI. As we all know, AI is increasingly integrated into various aspects of our lives, from voice assistants to recommendation systems, and even in healthcare and transportation. Celebrating AI Appreciation Day means celebrating and showing gratitude to the hard toil and ingenuity of innovative minds, and acknowledging the pervasive influence and potential of AI to further transform our industries and daily lives.
“Organizations have to utilize an robust AI governance framework and implement robust security solutions to address threats posed by GenAI, while establishing digital trust to enable a safer and smarter future.”
– Chetan Jain, Founding Executive Director, and Managing Director, Inspira Enterprise
Higher Adoption Comes with Higher Risk
Currently, India is witnessing a significant surge in AI adoption, cloud-native application development, and digital transformation across enterprises, government, and even startups. As a result, machine identities are growing at an unprecedented rate, far outpacing human identities. According to the CyberArk 2025 Identity Security Landscape report, organizations today have 82 machine identities for every human identity, and this number is expected to keep rising with the proliferation of agentic AI.
“This trend presents a critical cybersecurity challenge. Autonomous AI agents, while powerful, can independently make decisions, escalate their access privileges, and interact with critical IT systems, often without direct human oversight. Left unsecured, they can be exploited by threat actors to gain lateral access across networks, including sensitive data and infrastructure,” says Sumit Srivastava, Solutions Engineering Director – India at CyberArk.
“With GenAI revolutionizing creativity and interaction, and Agentic AI stepping in as autonomous decision-makers, the cloud has gone beyond infrastructure — it’s now the launchpad for intelligence.”
– Rahul S Kurkure, Founder and Director of Cloud.in
Securing Machine Identities
For Indian enterprises, especially those in BFSI, manufacturing, and government sectors undergoing rapid digitization, the top priority must be implementing a unified, AI-powered identity security framework, starting with robust machine identity protection.
“What sets us apart is our ability to democratize AI—developing intuitive platforms that empower engineers, even those without deep AI expertise, to harness its full potential.”
-Santosh Singh, President & Global Head Marketing & BE, Tata Technologies
“CyberArk strongly believes that industry, academia, and government must come together to proactively define secure AI usage frameworks before bad actors can exploit the gap, “ says Sumit Srivastava, Solutions Engineering Director – India at CyberArk. “Human and machine identities are the backbone of India’s growing digital economy. On AI Appreciation Day, it’s vital to recognize that securing these identities isn’t just a technical necessity, it is foundational to ensuring safe, trustworthy AI innovation in India’s digital future.”
“The most effective approach to defending against and mitigating multifaceted cybersecurity threats mirrors current cyber defence strategies: preemptive exposure management to address vulnerabilities before they’re exploited, and robust employee education on suspicious requests, no matter how compelling they may seem.”
-Bernard Montel, EMEA Technical Director and Security Strategist, Tenable
The Great Indian AI Evolution
The history of Artificial Intelligence in India is a story of gradual growth, culminating in rapid acceleration in recent years. While India wasn’t at the forefront of early AI research, it has made significant strides in the field, particularly since the turn of the millennium.
- Early Days (1960s-1980s):
- Indian institutes like IIT Kanpur and IISc Bangalore began computer science research, laying the groundwork for future AI development.
- In 1986, the Knowledge Based Computer Systems (KBCS) project was initiated, marking India’s first major AI research program.
- Foundations (1990s):
- The establishment of C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) in 1988 boosted supercomputing capabilities, indirectly supporting AI research.
- Indian software companies began exploring AI applications, primarily in business process automation.
- Growth Phase (2000s):
- Indian IT giants like TCS, Infosys, and Wipro started investing in AI research and development.
- Academic institutions expanded their AI and machine learning programs.
- Acceleration (2010s):
- 2014-15: The “Digital India” initiative was launched, emphasizing the importance of emerging technologies including AI.
- 2018: NITI Aayog released the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, outlining India’s approach to leveraging AI for economic growth and social inclusion.
- Indian startups focusing on AI solutions began to emerge and attract significant funding.
- Current Era (2020s):
- AI has become a key focus area for both government and private sector initiatives.
- India is positioning itself as a global AI hub, with applications ranging from healthcare to agriculture to smart cities.
- The government has launched initiatives like “AI for All” and is integrating AI into various sectors including education and governance.
“What makes AI truly remarkable is its potential to level the playing field, giving businesses of all sizes access to intelligence and agility once reserved for the few.”
-Venkataraman D, Vice President – Sales & Strategy, Crayon Software Experts India
Throughout this journey, India has leveraged its strengths in software development and data processing to carve out a unique position in the global AI landscape. The country’s diverse demographic and complex socio-economic challenges have also provided a fertile ground for developing AI solutions tailored to emerging markets.
Today, India stands at the cusp of an AI revolution, with the potential to become a leader in ethical and inclusive AI development that addresses both local and global challenges.
“The real promise of AI lies not in automation alone, but in its ability to illuminate purpose, foster innovation with integrity, and drive outcomes that matter to society at large.”
-Prashanth G J, CEO, Technobind Solutions
Government Initiatives: AI for India 2.0
On July 15, 2023, just ahead of World Youth Skills Day, the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship launched the “AI for India 2.0” initiative. This program represents a significant step in the government’s efforts to promote AI education and skill development. This program represents a significant step in the government’s efforts to promote AI education and skill development.
“Winning the AI race will require intelligent data strategies and robust infrastructures – supported by agile, secure, and scalable cloud solutions.”
-Vasanthi Ramesh, VP- Engineering and Managing Director, NetApp India
Transforming India: AI’s Role in Key Sectors and Research Ecosystem
AI is revolutionizing India, enhancing urban mobility with autonomous vehicles and smart traffic management, optimizing agriculture with precision farming, and personalizing education through intelligent tutoring systems. In healthcare, AI improves diagnostics and patient care, while in smart cities, it enables efficient energy management and intelligent surveillance.
India’s AI research ecosystem thrives with government initiatives like the National AI Strategy, academic institutions conducting cutting-edge research, and industry partnerships fostering innovation. The vibrant startup ecosystem develops diverse AI solutions, positioning India as a global AI leader and driving sustainable growth and development.
“We bring deep expertise in managing large-scale digital infrastructure, ensuring that AI adoption is not only ambitious but also sustainable, secure, and impactful for businesses and society alike.”
– Umesh Shah, Director, Orient Technologies Limited
Over the last ten years, Indian businesses have really embraced new tech, and AI is no different.”India’s becoming a global hotspot for AI talent and has a booming startup scene. It’s not just adopting AI, but actively shaping its future. With efforts like the IndiaAI Mission and the rise of fast-scaling local AI startups, it’s critical to build on open infrastructure that can scale, offer flexible models, and be compliance-ready from day one,” says Vishal Ghariwala, APAC CTO, SUSE.
Today’s AI breakthroughs will be tomorrow’s legacy. Getting locked in or stuck in one ecosystem would be counter-intuitive to innovation. Businesses in not just in India but in entire APAC region are leapfrogging other markets at a rapid pace. Therefore, businesses need to be prepared and think ahead about how to make use of best-in-class technologies, while maintaining the flexibility to move between different stacks and solutions.
“Organisations should embrace transformative AI-powered security capabilities within their security posture, which empower security teams to take back control, reduce burnout, and decisively shift the AI advantage back in their favor.”
-Fabio Fratucello, Field CTO World Wide, CrowdStrike
India: Global Engine of Applied AI Innovation
India is not just a talent hub; it’s emerging as a global engine of applied AI innovation. It’s estimated that AI could contribute over $500 billion to the Indian economy and $4 Trillion to the world economy in the near term, underscoring the scale of transformation already underway. “The priority now isn’t adoption but orchestration, for high-quality data, responsible AI, security, and governance delivering measurable business outcomes. It is about value over volume, about impact over noise, delivering continuous modernization at the speed of business,” says Jay Modh, Founder & CEO of Intuitive.Cloud.
“As we embed AI deeper into enterprise and societal frameworks, ethical stewardship, transparency, and human-centric design must remain front and center.”
– Sachin Panicker, Chief AI Officer, Fulcrum Digital
AI: The Backbone of Intelligent Enterprise
AI is fast becoming the backbone of intelligent enterprise across industry verticals. “At Intuitive.Cloud, we are co-building the Data Intelligence and AI-led future with scale, agility, security and governance where enterprises can accelerate the context-aware intelligence and transformation with trust and confidence.” says Jay.
Global IndiaAI Summit 2024: Shaping the Future of AI
On July 3-4, 2024, India hosted the Global IndiaAI Summit at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, marking a significant milestone in the country’s AI journey. Inaugurated by Union Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, the summit brought together over 12,000 global AI experts, practitioners and the delegates from 50 countries, showcasing India’s growing influence in the global AI landscape. The event showcased India’s leadership in Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) and its commitment to fostering responsible AI development globally.
Karthik Rajaram, Area Vice President & General Manager, Elastic India, says, “As India seeks to establish itself as a leader in AI through the IndiaAI Mission, Elastic is proud to support the country’s AI vision with technologies that are open, adaptive, and capable of providing a real-time, complete view of all data.”
“Realising the full potential of AI will require more than just algorithms, it will demand reliable, energy-aware foundations that are capable of supporting dynamic workloads. We at Vertiv are always committed to enabling this shift by building infrastructure that is ready for the scale, complexity, and ambition of India’s AI-driven future.”
–Shrirang Deshpande, Country Head, Strategic Programmes, Vertiv India
Shaping the Future of Work
It will be wrong to judge AI as a tool of automation which helps in automating tasks. Rather, it’s a tool with explosive tool for enhancing human capabilities and enabling new ways of working. This AI Appreciation Day, let’s explore and reflect upon how AI can further empower individuals and teams responsibly to be more efficient, creative, and productive.
