India is steering its national artificial intelligence strategy towards a fundamental, people-first transformation. This decisive shift, moving beyond mere technological adoption to prioritize human empowerment, was the central theme of a high-level meeting held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati.
Guwahati Deliberations Shape India's AI Roadmap
The two-day Human Capital Working Group meeting, held from January 5 to 6, brought together senior policymakers, academic leaders, and industry experts. The event was jointly organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the IndiaAI Mission, the Assam government, and IIT Guwahati.
Chaired by Prof. T G Sitharam, the discussions are expected to provide critical policy inputs for the upcoming India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi next month. The deliberations focused on three core pillars: education reform, workforce transition, and the responsible, human-centric adoption of AI as India braces for large-scale economic and social changes.
Lifelong Learning and Human Augmentation Take Center Stage
Speakers from government and academia unanimously cautioned against narrow, fragmented skilling models. They advocated for a systemic shift towards building robust lifelong learning ecosystems. Prof. Sitharam emphasized that "the transition to an AI-enabled economy must be inclusive and people-centric," arguing that technological progress must ultimately translate into dignity, opportunity, and resilience for every worker.
Assam officials highlighted the significant risks of unchecked automation, urging a policy focus on human augmentation—using AI to enhance human capabilities—rather than replacement. They also stressed the need to expand AI literacy as a fundamental public capability.
The first day of the meeting featured a keynote address on democratizing competency in the AI age. Panel discussions tackled gender-responsive AI strategies and the urgent need to redefine education for the cognitive era. A key warning emerged: if policy responses lag behind technological change, the result could be a dangerous widening of societal inequality.
From Guwahati to the Global Stage
IndiaAI joint director Shikha Dahiya confirmed that the outcomes from Guwahati will directly inform high-level global discussions at the forthcoming summit. The focus areas include:
- Democratizing access to AI resources and tools.
- Building powerful indigenous AI models.
- Amplifying perspectives from the Global South in the worldwide AI dialogue.
The meeting concluded on Monday with the consolidation of recommendations. These are slated to feed directly into India's national AI human capital roadmap, a strategic plan aligned with the broader Viksit Bharat 2047 vision for a developed nation. This gathering marks a pivotal moment where India's AI discourse is being firmly anchored in the welfare and advancement of its people.
