Business · India Bureau
AI apocalypse fears exaggerated, global moratorium unrealistic: Zoho chief
Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu has dismissed warnings of catastrophic artificial intelligence outcomes as overblown, arguing that a worldwide pause in AI development is neither feasible nor necessary. He has called on India to chart an independent course in the technology sector while maintaining strategic flexibility amid US-China competition.
LSN India ·
Concerns about artificial intelligence triggering civilisation-ending scenarios are being overstated, according to Sridhar Vembu, Chief Scientist and Co-founder at Zoho, who contends that a coordinated global halt to AI research is unrealistic and unlikely to materialise.
Vembu has urged India to adopt a balanced, independent strategy in AI development, leveraging partnerships across nations while avoiding entanglement in the intensifying technological competition between the United States and China. "We must be friends with everybody, enemies with nobody and keep our options open," he said in a recent interview.
Challenging industry calls for a pause in AI advancement, Vembu argued that any major technology company genuinely concerned about the pace of development can voluntarily slow its own progress without requiring the entire sector to follow suit. He characterised widespread calls from AI laboratories for an industry-wide moratorium as motivated less by safety considerations and more by competitive positioning.
Vembu has advocated for India to undertake substantial investments in foundational research and development across multiple sectors, positioning the country to maintain technological autonomy and strategic optionality in the emerging AI landscape.