At the "India AI Impact Summit 2026," Sreeram A., Partner, Deloitte India, delivered a powerful address on the evolving role of AI in national security and modern warfare. Framing AI not merely as a tool but as the new battlespace itself, he underscored the strategic risks of relying on off-the-shelf or foreign-controlled systems and emphasised that sovereign, indigenously built AI is not technological nationalism, but a matter of national survival.
His address explored critical dilemmas facing defence leadership today, from algorithm versus human intuition in split-second battlefield decisions to data sovereignty versus coalition dependencies. He called for a clear governance framework to address ethical, operational and strategic trade-offs as AI becomes embedded in legacy and next-generation systems alike.
Proposing a forward-looking roadmap, he outlined the need for a defence AI mission, a sovereign defence AI platform, deeper public-private collaboration and the development of AI-ready warriors across the armed forces. Highlighting India’s unique strengths, from its software talent pool to its democratic values capable of shaping ethical AI frameworks, he posed a defining question: Will India be an AI rule-maker in defence or a rule-taker?
The session closed with a compelling reminder: The future of defence AI is not predetermined. It is ours to design, govern and deploy decisively and responsibly.
India AI Impact Summit 2026, IndiaAI
Nitin Kini, Nitin Mittal, Saurabh Kumar, Jehil Thakkar, S. Anjani Kumar, NSN Murty, Sudeepta Veerapaneni, Moumita Sarker, Aditya Sudhindranath, Ashwin Ballal, Sanghamitra Pati, Varun Rastogi, Sumit Singhania
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