Column | As the AI Ecosystem Grows, We Must Ensure That Its Benefits Reach Every Learner, Says Pralhad Joshi

India has one of the world’s largest higher-education systems, with more than 4.5 crore young people studying in our colleges and universities. Every year, lakhs of graduates enter a rapidly changing world of work. From the factory floor to the hospital or courtroom, artificial intelligence (AI) is automating routine tasks, augmenting human capabilities and reshaping what employer’s value.

In today’s AI-driven world, what distinguishes a graduate is not only their command over knowledge, but also the ability to ask the right questions, work confidently with AI tools and exercise judgement about their answers. These skills are nothing but habits of mind. Vedantic thought captures this in viveka—the faculty of discernment. The concept of sat-asat-viveka—the ability to distinguish the real from the apparent—acquires renewed relevance in an age when machines can generate answers that are fluent and convincing. Indian philosophy also emphasises the importance of chintana—reflection and contemplation. As AI becomes better at processing, predicting and generating, education must sharpen the distinctly human capacity to question, reflect, judge and create.

More than 100 crore Indians will be at working age by 2030. The Stanford AI Index 2026 places India at the top in AI skill penetration and describes it as moving from a net exporter towards a net absorber of AI talent. This convergence of demographic scale and technological capability presents us a rare opportunity. The question is whether our education system can equip young Indians to keep learning and adapting as work evolves.

The National Education Policy, 2020, was framed before generative AI gathered momentum, yet its vision has proved deeply relevant to the demands of this new technological era. Its emphasis on flexible, multidisciplinary learning connected to the world of work is exactly what an AI-driven economy requires. This idea has deep Indian roots. Nalanda and Takshashila brought together diverse fields of knowledge, while shastrartha (traditional intellectual debate) placed questioning and reasoned debate at the heart of learning. It is therefore fitting that, under the University Grants Commission guidelines, at least five per cent of a student’s total programme credits must come from courses in the Indian knowledge systems. The academic bank of credits and national credit framework add further flexibility, recognising skills, internships and approved online learning towards formal qualifications.

On this foundation, we are building capabilities that individual institutions cannot create on their own. Students now have access to computing power. Under the IndiaAI Mission, more than 38,000 graphics processing units are available at subsidised rates, giving students and researchers wider access to the computing power needed to build and test AI systems. The second is talent. In his Independence Day address on August 15, 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that one crore youth would receive AI-skills training over the following year. The AI Apprenticeship Programme under the National Apprenticeship Training Scheme complements this with structured on-the-job training in areas such as data science, machine learning and prompt engineering. Last year alone, around 75,000 apprentices participated in the programme. IndiaAI fellowships further support 8,000 undergraduates, 5,000 postgraduates and 500 doctoral scholars pursuing AI-related study and research.

The third is research capacity. Four AI Centres of Excellence in agriculture, sustainable cities, health care and education are being led by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Ropar, Kanpur and Madras, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, through a cumulative investment of Rs 1,490 crore. Their work ranges from identifying crop diseases, tracking air pollution, predicting urban floods, improving health care and developing education tools in Indian languages. This also means building AI that understands India. Models trained elsewhere can miss the nuances of our languages and contexts, making Indian data and Indian-language models essential for relevance and accuracy. The fourth element is curriculum and pedagogy. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has introduced AI as a core subject at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and designed courses for non-computer science students. IITs are now offering dedicated B.Tech programmes in AI and related fields. SWAYAM Plus is widening access to foundational and industry-aligned AI courses across the country. Faculty capacity is also being strengthened through programmes such as TechSaksham and PG certification programmes under the AICTE Quality Improvement Programme to keep teaching and learning aligned with rapidly changing technologies.

The Goal of a Clear Pathway

Learning becomes more meaningful when students get a chance to apply it. The Smart India Hackathon and Seva First Innovation Challenge ask students and young innovators to work on real problems from the government, industry and communities. By testing, failing and refining their prototypes, they learn what textbooks cannot fully teach: teamwork, resilience and designing for a real user. More than 17,300 institution innovation councils are helping nurture this culture across higher-education campuses. Bharat Innovates 2026 brought around 120 deep-tech start-ups and 45 research and innovation projects from Indian higher-education institutions to a global platform in Nice, France. More than 2,000 participants from 29 countries took part and $254 million in funding commitments were announced. The goal is a clear pathway from experimentation and prototyping to mentoring, investment and scale.

The next priority is to ensure that its benefits reach every learner. Students in state universities, affiliated colleges and institutions in smaller cities should have access to high-quality AI learning, infrastructure and faculty expertise. Shared laboratories, affordable digital platforms and stronger institutional partnerships can widen that access. Scale must go hand in hand with excellence.

Assessment must evolve to reward thinking over memory. At the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, for instance, students were asked to train their own chatbots to answer midterm questions and were assessed on how thoughtfully they designed and used them. Such approaches point towards a wider shift, from recall towards application, reasoning and judgement.

Responsible use will be equally important. Students should learn to question AI-generated outputs, recognise their limitations and for how they use them. That requires judgement, ethics and intellectual discipline.

Industry has an equally important role. Universities will need closer engagement with employers in designing courses, offering meaningful internships, bringing live problems into classrooms and collaborating with institutions on research.

An old Sanskrit verse, subhasita, des­cribes vidya as a unique form of wealth: vyaye krte vardhata eva nityam—the more it is shared, the more it grows. Our task is to ensure that knowledge, technology and opportunity go beyond a few elite institutions and reach every learner who can use them to create value. Our success will be measured by whether every learner has the confidence to identify problems and build solutions; whe­ther promising ideas can grow into enterprises that create jobs and value; whether young Indians use AI with judgement and creativity; and whether the AI we build reflects India’s languages, contexts and needs. If we can achieve this at scale, India will help shape the AI economy and lead through knowledge and innovation. Viksit Bharat 2047 will be built by a generation with skills, confidence and imagination to create the future.

(Views expressed are personal)

Pralhad Joshi is the union education minister