Any new technology calls for social responsibility to make it accessible and ensure responsible use across as many industries as possible.
On Tuesday, during a session titled From Algorithms to Outcomes: Building AI that Works for People at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, speakers, namely S. Krishnan, IAS, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Michael Kremer, J-PAL & University of Chicago, shared how to push AI into society for popular use.
On the matter, S. Krishnan said, “Many startups are offering multiple solutions built on AI. But what do we pick for which function, is the question to ask. Probably, we need some kind of social equity capitalism to find a way for some of these solutions. Then, the government as a co-financer or a co-investor can step in and set up a model which can actually work in a naive situation like this.”
Commenting on the idea of government support, Michael Kremer, J-PAL & University of Chicago, “Small grants for piloting new ideas and somewhat larger grants for rigorously testing them and transitioning them to scale is what needs to be done.”
According to him, that type of approach can provide evidence to state governments and others considering adoption and help get the solution started on a commercial scale when venture capitalists might not even be there.
Concluding the session, S. Krishnan said, “To some extent, the technology keeps moving up the value chain, and we need to keep pace with that. And to keep pace with that, we have to find frugal ways of innovating.”
The session highlighted the role of government and public grants in pushing new technology into the market for popular use at a scale to address the real issues.
