‘Brain drain is costly,’ laments Sridhar Vembu as Trump advisor Sriram Krishnan says world must use US AI stack
India AI Impact Summit 2026: Krishnan said US wants to ensure that the world uses American AI stack and models.
- Feb 19, 2026,
- Updated Feb 19, 2026 8:59 AM IST
India AI Impact Summit 2026: Brain drain is costly, lamented founder of Zoho Corporation, Sridhar Vembu, as Sriram Krishnan advocated for US artificial intelligence (AI) stack, and said they want the entire world to use their AI models. Chennai-born Krishnan, a graduate of SRM University, gained US citizenship in 2016, and was appointed as the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence in 2024.
Krishnan is also a venture capitalist, podcaster and author, and has led product teams at Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo!, Facebook, and Snap.
“This is why brain drain is costly and we must fight hard to retain the next generation of talent in India,” said Vembu, sharing a clip from Krishnan’s session at the AI Summit.
WHAT KRISHNAN SAID
Advocating for US-made AI, Krishnan said, “We want to make sure that the world uses the American AI stack…we want to make sure that the world uses our AI models, and third it uses our applications and builds applications on top. We want to make sure we are amazing and easy to do business with, and that’s what we have been focused on.”
“For India, we have this conversation about what sovereign AI actually means. When we think about it, America is going to have a minimum of $600 billion in investments across areas and it is going to power AI training runs, data centres, and compute. We think all of our allies, and India is a key ally, should be leveraging and building on top of this infrastructure. This does not mean giving up on strategic autonomy. Indian companies will need to bring in local language support and culture,” he said.
‘INDIA SHOULD BE AN AI POWERHOUSE’
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pushed for India to become an AI powerhouse. During an exclusive interview with ANI, PM Modi said AI must remain human-centric, inclusive and development-oriented.
“Our success with Aadhaar, UPI and other digital public goods was not accidental…We built digital infrastructure as a public good, not a proprietary platform,” he said, adding that AI layered on top of the infrastructure India already has can improve welfare targeting, fraud detection, urban planning and governance transparency.
“With its experience of building a human-centric Digital Public Infrastructure, India is best placed to ensure that AI’s benefits reach the last mile,” he said.
“India has the talent and entrepreneurial energy to become an AI powerhouse, not just as a consumer, but a creator,” said PM Modi.
The Prime Minister said he wants Indian IT companies to lead not just in services but in building AI products and platforms for global markets.
India AI Impact Summit 2026: Brain drain is costly, lamented founder of Zoho Corporation, Sridhar Vembu, as Sriram Krishnan advocated for US artificial intelligence (AI) stack, and said they want the entire world to use their AI models. Chennai-born Krishnan, a graduate of SRM University, gained US citizenship in 2016, and was appointed as the Senior White House Policy Advisor on Artificial Intelligence in 2024.
Krishnan is also a venture capitalist, podcaster and author, and has led product teams at Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo!, Facebook, and Snap.
“This is why brain drain is costly and we must fight hard to retain the next generation of talent in India,” said Vembu, sharing a clip from Krishnan’s session at the AI Summit.
WHAT KRISHNAN SAID
Advocating for US-made AI, Krishnan said, “We want to make sure that the world uses the American AI stack…we want to make sure that the world uses our AI models, and third it uses our applications and builds applications on top. We want to make sure we are amazing and easy to do business with, and that’s what we have been focused on.”
“For India, we have this conversation about what sovereign AI actually means. When we think about it, America is going to have a minimum of $600 billion in investments across areas and it is going to power AI training runs, data centres, and compute. We think all of our allies, and India is a key ally, should be leveraging and building on top of this infrastructure. This does not mean giving up on strategic autonomy. Indian companies will need to bring in local language support and culture,” he said.
‘INDIA SHOULD BE AN AI POWERHOUSE’
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pushed for India to become an AI powerhouse. During an exclusive interview with ANI, PM Modi said AI must remain human-centric, inclusive and development-oriented.
“Our success with Aadhaar, UPI and other digital public goods was not accidental…We built digital infrastructure as a public good, not a proprietary platform,” he said, adding that AI layered on top of the infrastructure India already has can improve welfare targeting, fraud detection, urban planning and governance transparency.
“With its experience of building a human-centric Digital Public Infrastructure, India is best placed to ensure that AI’s benefits reach the last mile,” he said.
“India has the talent and entrepreneurial energy to become an AI powerhouse, not just as a consumer, but a creator,” said PM Modi.
The Prime Minister said he wants Indian IT companies to lead not just in services but in building AI products and platforms for global markets.