FEBRUARY 18, 2026
India AI Summit 2026: Vianai founder and CEO and Former Infosys CEO,Vishal Sikka.
Vianai founder and CEO, Vishal Sikka pursued a PhD in AI way back in 1996. During the India Today AI Summit 2026, Sikka discussed how the AI landscape transformed over the years, and even now AI remains a tool for productivity.
In the session titled, “Can India win the AI race,” Vishal Sikka made it clear that AI is quite powerful when put into action correctly, with human “vigour.” He said, “AI is not a friend. It is a tool it is unbelievably powerful.”
However, the former Infosys CEO reckoned that we should stop the discussion over AGI “artificial general intelligence” a state where AI starts thinking like humans â and instead focus on using it as a tool for knowledge and repetitive tasks. He said, “The whole thing about AGI, and this is all nonsense, that we should abandon that.”
Infosys’ attempt at AI and OpenAI investment
During his time at Infosys, Vishal Sikka played a role in the company’s early endeavors in AI. In 2015, Infosys invested $3 million in OpenAI, a decision taken by Sikka. He said, “The trajectory was kind of clear, where this was headed. We had to have an AI platform that we could use. So here was Sam [Altman] who was looking to build [AI] system.”
Apart from the investment in OpenAI, Vishal Sikka also revealed that Infosys tried to build its own platform. He explained, “We built our own platform back then. We had a large collection of efforts that we were doing.”
The need for government regulation in AI
Deepfakes are flooding the internet, and it is becoming difficult for users to identify AI-generated content online. Vishal Sikka believes that regulation in the AI space should be a necessity, comparing it to regulations in areas such as construction.
Sikka explained, “We are sitting here in this room, and we are comfortable that this roof is not going to fall on our heads, because of regulation So what is the problem with regulating AI?”
The Government of India recently announced new regulations for AI-generated content on social media. The Vianai chief added, “I’m very proud that the Indian government actually is taking a very leading and uncompromising stand on regulation, on safety, on ethics”
Creative destruction at Hyperspeed
Vishal Sikka also expressed the confidence in more productivity with AI. The former Infosys chief cited an example of his friend who was able to create a system in 14 days that originally took nine months. He explained, “What took nine months by 15 people, with 15 very high level engineers, was rebuilt by him, by himself, alone, within 14 days. So that’s more than 100 times productivity.”
When asked about the way AI was changing the productivity landscape, Sikka replied, “It’s like a creative destruction that is happening at hyperspeed.”
Courtesy/Source: India Today / PTI
