Best of BS Opinion: AI power, war chaos, and India's energy blind spot

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

China’s AI push is less about chasing a distant breakthrough and more about embedding intelligence everywhere it can be used. At a recent Shanghai gathering, Chinese policymakers signalled confidence, treating the US as the only serious rival while largely dismissing others, including India. As Shyam Saran notes, the strategy rests on scale and coordination between universities, tech firms, and specialised companies working in tandem, backed by state direction. Open-source systems are central, with ambitions to shape global standards through affordable, widely deployable models. India, operating with far fewer resources, is taking a narrower path with focus on applied use cases such as language tools and digital public infrastructure. That approach may prove effective, but it also risks locking the country into external ecosystems if domestic capabilities don’t deepen.

 

 

Meanwhile, Mihir Sharma turns to the US’ confrontation with Iran, arguing it lacks even the flawed structure that underpinned the Iraq war. The Bush administration, despite its missteps, attempted to build legitimacy through alliances and institutional processes. In contrast, Donald Trump’s approach appears ad hoc, launched without a clear objective or coalition, and with little anticipation of escalation. Iran’s responses, including threats to energy flows, have exposed these gaps. The fallout is global, particularly for energy-dependent regions, while the US remains comparatively shielded. Yet the expectation of political accountability, which followed Iraq, may not materialise this time, with blame more likely to be deflected than absorbed.

 

Devangshu Datta writes that warfare is shifting quickly towards cheaper, more adaptable technologies. Drones have already altered battlefield economics, taking down high-value assets at a fraction of the cost. The next phase of AI-enabled targeting raises sharper concerns. Systems capable of identifying individuals through surveillance data are emerging, though current versions remain error-prone and risky. Fully autonomous weapons could remove even the limited human oversight that exists today, making them harder to disrupt and easier to deploy at scale. As Datta notes, governance frameworks are struggling to keep pace, leaving critical ethical and legal questions unresolved.

 

Finally, Shekhar Gupta contrasts China’s energy strategy with India’s uneven progress. Despite limited natural resources, China has invested steadily in coal gasification, converting domestic coal into synthetic fuels and fertiliser inputs. India, with similar potential, has seen its plans stall amid regulatory hurdles and inconsistent policy execution. The consequences are visible in continued import dependence, particularly for fertilisers, leaving agriculture exposed to global disruptions. Gupta’s argument is straightforward: the constraint is not availability but follow-through, and without sustained execution, even viable solutions remain out of reach.

 

Stay tuned!