Anthropic, the US AI giant that seeks to differentiate itself from other AI firms as being the champion of ethics and responsibility, has restricted initial access to its new powerful AI model-cum-agent, Mythos, to 40 organisations. All of them, except British AI Security Institute, are American.
Reason for the restricted access? Mythos is so powerful that it can detect hidden vulnerabilities in software systems. If hackers get their hands on it, they could wreak havoc.
The optimistic reading of Anthropic's restricted release is that those who got their hands on Mythos, like Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Apple, some chip and network equipment-makers, cybersecurity companies and finance companies, would deploy Mythos to spot bugs and fix them, including for the benefit of those without direct access.
The dystopian reading of Anthropic has two strands. One, malign actors would get their hands on this powerful tool and use it to rob, blackmail and victimise others. Two, the US government could use its current status - equivalent to the one it had from immediately after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, till when the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in August 1949 - to lord it over all other nations, as the sole owner of a WMD.
Tomorrow, or the week after, a Chinese AI company may come up with another super-powerful AI model-cum-agent that can work the same miracle that Mythos now does. How should India respond to the arrival of such powerful tools/weapons in the hands of foreign private companies, and potentially in the hands of foreign governments?
It can seek regulatory solutions, equitable access for all nations and peoples to the fruits of advances in S&T. If India were a Pacific or Caribbean island nation, this would be fine, and it could concentrate on developing economic applications for AI models developed by others. But India is different. It's an aspiring large power with strategic autonomy.
India produces about 1.5 mn engineers a year, second only to China's 2 mn, which include about half-a-million postgraduates and PhDs. At 245 mn, India has the world's largest cohort of people aged 20-30. The comparable count for China is 175 mn, and for the US, 45 mn. India's answer to Claude Mythos is one or more homegrown AI models as powerful as, if not more powerful than, Mythos. The threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD) kept nuclear powers frantically trying to increase their power differential over rivals, but trapped in the non-offensive logic of deterrence, leading to detente, capping of missiles and arms-reduction deals.
Is this view paranoid? After all, Anthropic is a private company, not an arm of the US government, and a company that forswears the use of its products for harmful activities like mass surveillance and automated selection of targets in combat. Nvidia is a private company. But the US government decides whether Chinese entities can buy the company's most advanced chips. In China, private company assets would become national assets with fewer quibbles.
If India wants to retain its strategic autonomy, it must develop its own frontier AI models. Private companies here lack the vision or ambition. GoI will have to take the lead. As it had when Nehru set up atomic and space programmes, and Rajiv Gandhi set up C-DoT and C-Dac for advances in telecom and computing. C-Dac delivered on its mandate to produce a supercomputer within 3 yrs and with a budget of ₹30 cr, producing PARAM 8000, a parallel processing behemoth that ranked second among the world's supercomputers in 1991.
A lot of India's youthful energy is frittered away in the pursuit of ritual and cant, sectarian hatred and politics of schism to advance an ideology of regression into a golden ideal of the past - as if glory is to be found in myths and not in a Mythos. The bulk of top talent emigrates. Or strives in startups that make a quick buck, rather than create technological breakthroughs. Some work at the so-called 'global capability centres' (GCCs) developing IP for foreign companies.
Give these young people a chance to create cutting-edge tech for their country, under visionary leaders like Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, Sam Pitroda, Vijay Bhatkar or Verghese Kurien, they will deliver.
What about the advanced computing hardware needed for AI? DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that thumbed its nose at pricey rivals from the US, has just announced its latest offering, developed on chips designed and manufactured by Huawei.
Should India wait for counterpart private Indian companies to do their job? Sure, if our goal is to let students appreciate the finer nuances of the theatre of the absurd. Not if we want to acquire computing power that can't be sanctioned by a whimsical leader who decides, one fine summer morning, that he wishes to end a civilisation. India needs new state-sponsored AI entities to create essential strategic capability.
GoI could fund startups, set up public enterprises, offer a grand prize, coordinate research at universities and IITs, offer special incentives to state governments to harness their domestic talent. These are not mutually exclusive options. State action, at speed, is of the essence. That way, India won't be held hostage by Mythos, or others of its ilk.
Reason for the restricted access? Mythos is so powerful that it can detect hidden vulnerabilities in software systems. If hackers get their hands on it, they could wreak havoc.
The optimistic reading of Anthropic's restricted release is that those who got their hands on Mythos, like Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Apple, some chip and network equipment-makers, cybersecurity companies and finance companies, would deploy Mythos to spot bugs and fix them, including for the benefit of those without direct access.
The dystopian reading of Anthropic has two strands. One, malign actors would get their hands on this powerful tool and use it to rob, blackmail and victimise others. Two, the US government could use its current status - equivalent to the one it had from immediately after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, till when the Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in August 1949 - to lord it over all other nations, as the sole owner of a WMD.
Tomorrow, or the week after, a Chinese AI company may come up with another super-powerful AI model-cum-agent that can work the same miracle that Mythos now does. How should India respond to the arrival of such powerful tools/weapons in the hands of foreign private companies, and potentially in the hands of foreign governments?
It can seek regulatory solutions, equitable access for all nations and peoples to the fruits of advances in S&T. If India were a Pacific or Caribbean island nation, this would be fine, and it could concentrate on developing economic applications for AI models developed by others. But India is different. It's an aspiring large power with strategic autonomy.
India produces about 1.5 mn engineers a year, second only to China's 2 mn, which include about half-a-million postgraduates and PhDs. At 245 mn, India has the world's largest cohort of people aged 20-30. The comparable count for China is 175 mn, and for the US, 45 mn. India's answer to Claude Mythos is one or more homegrown AI models as powerful as, if not more powerful than, Mythos. The threat of mutually assured destruction (MAD) kept nuclear powers frantically trying to increase their power differential over rivals, but trapped in the non-offensive logic of deterrence, leading to detente, capping of missiles and arms-reduction deals.
Is this view paranoid? After all, Anthropic is a private company, not an arm of the US government, and a company that forswears the use of its products for harmful activities like mass surveillance and automated selection of targets in combat. Nvidia is a private company. But the US government decides whether Chinese entities can buy the company's most advanced chips. In China, private company assets would become national assets with fewer quibbles.
If India wants to retain its strategic autonomy, it must develop its own frontier AI models. Private companies here lack the vision or ambition. GoI will have to take the lead. As it had when Nehru set up atomic and space programmes, and Rajiv Gandhi set up C-DoT and C-Dac for advances in telecom and computing. C-Dac delivered on its mandate to produce a supercomputer within 3 yrs and with a budget of ₹30 cr, producing PARAM 8000, a parallel processing behemoth that ranked second among the world's supercomputers in 1991.
A lot of India's youthful energy is frittered away in the pursuit of ritual and cant, sectarian hatred and politics of schism to advance an ideology of regression into a golden ideal of the past - as if glory is to be found in myths and not in a Mythos. The bulk of top talent emigrates. Or strives in startups that make a quick buck, rather than create technological breakthroughs. Some work at the so-called 'global capability centres' (GCCs) developing IP for foreign companies.
Give these young people a chance to create cutting-edge tech for their country, under visionary leaders like Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, Sam Pitroda, Vijay Bhatkar or Verghese Kurien, they will deliver.
What about the advanced computing hardware needed for AI? DeepSeek, the Chinese AI company that thumbed its nose at pricey rivals from the US, has just announced its latest offering, developed on chips designed and manufactured by Huawei.
Should India wait for counterpart private Indian companies to do their job? Sure, if our goal is to let students appreciate the finer nuances of the theatre of the absurd. Not if we want to acquire computing power that can't be sanctioned by a whimsical leader who decides, one fine summer morning, that he wishes to end a civilisation. India needs new state-sponsored AI entities to create essential strategic capability.
GoI could fund startups, set up public enterprises, offer a grand prize, coordinate research at universities and IITs, offer special incentives to state governments to harness their domestic talent. These are not mutually exclusive options. State action, at speed, is of the essence. That way, India won't be held hostage by Mythos, or others of its ilk.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)
TK Arun