Zoho founder and Chief Scientist Sridhar Vembu has cautioned India against trying to compete head-on with massive Large Language Models (LLMs) that dominate the global artificial intelligence landscape, arguing that the country should instead focus on smaller, more energy-efficient AI approaches.

In an interview with PTI, Sridhar Vembu said India should avoid entering what he described as a capital- and energy-intensive race dominated by Big Tech, and instead leverage its intellectual strengths to pursue alternative AI strategies.

The remarks come as India prepares to host the India AI Impact Summit later this month, amid heightened interest in artificial intelligence and its role in economic growth.

Vembu’s views echo the recent Economic Survey, which noted that India’s limited access to cutting-edge compute infrastructure and capital makes building large foundational models a “challenging” proposition. The Survey advocated a bottom-up approach to AI development that aligns better with India’s realities.