- Rishi Sunak said AI investments are 20 times greater than the Manhattan Project costs
- Sunak emphasized AI as a transformational general-purpose technology reshaping societies
- India's digital infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar may benefit significantly from AI
The scale of AI's runaway growth is such that companies are investing 20 times more than the entire Manhattan Project, former British prime minister Rishi Sunak told NDTV Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal at the NDTV India.AI Summit today.
Sunak made the comment comparing the investment on artificial intelligence with the historic project that led to the building of atomic weapons while illustrating the importance of companies in the development of AI.
The Manhattan Project in 1945 cost approximately $2.2 billion dollars, equivalent to over $30 billion dollars today, adjusted for inflation.
"Informed by my time at Stanford, I was of the belief that this is going to be the most transformational thing that happens in our lifetimes, and we're lucky to live at a time that a general purpose technology comes along, because that's what AI is, and general purpose technologies have the ability to reshape our entire country, economies, societies, with huge policy implications," Sunak said.
The former British prime minister had played a big role in organising the world's first summit on AI safety.
"That's why I thought it was right to bring leaders together to discuss this topic on a regular basis... I wanted to do this differently to the typical G7, G20 format because I thought it was important that the companies developing this technology were in the room. Unlike previous iterations, it was the companies that were at the frontier [of AI].
"They are the ones that are deploying billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars. This year, 20 times more is being spent by these companies than the entire Manhattan Project. If you think about that, major investments by the US. So you had to bring all these groups together to walk through all the issues," Sunak said.
Jobs, Digital Public Infrastructure
Sunak acknowledged India's rapid rise in creating a robust digital public infrastructure comprising services like UPI, Aadhaar, ABHA, etc which may benefit from the use of AI in the near future.
He said AI is not just a tech, but a shift in strategies of nations that can have real-world impacts. One of the ways that shows this change is how AI would affect jobs.
"Some jobs will be lost. I think many more will be redesigned. I think history shows us that societies flourish when we manage that transition well. The role of the government isn't to stop innovation. It's to make sure that people can take on these new tasks and new roles with confidence and security," Sunak said.
"Now I care about this... while of course there's going to be change, that doesn't mean that the role for humans is disappearing. It's just going to change. Every job that all of us do, I think can be broken down into lots of different tasks," he added.
NDTV Ind.AI Summit
NDTV Ind.AI highlights India as a country that is not catching up in AI, but leaping ahead. As the global AI landscape evolves, the world is increasingly looking to India not just for scale, but for leadership and direction.
The NDTV Ind.AI Summit brings together policymakers, industry leaders, innovators, and thinkers to shape an AI future that is rooted in human values and ethical responsibility.
Built on two core pillars - India's human-centric AI agenda for the world and safe, responsible and impact-driven AI - the summit champions a people-first approach. It envisions AI as a force that elevates humanity, drives inclusive growth, and safeguards societal well-being while accelerating innovation.
