Why India needs ‘LLM Diplomacy’ and a ‘Trust Corridor’ with the US to strengthen AI

At the India-U.S. Business Council’s Golden Jubilee Summit in Bengaluru, Nivruti Rai, CEO of Invest India, made a pitch for deeper collaboration between the world’s two largest democracies in the age of AI. Her keynote outlined not just India’s expanding investment pipeline but also a roadmap for responsible and inclusive AI leadership through what she termed as “LLM Diplomacy” and a “Trust Corridor” with the United States.

“Data centres for AI are not just computing infrastructure. They’re going to be culture infrastructure,” Rai said, stressing that as artificial intelligence increasingly performs decision-making, cultural context and shared democratic values will be essential to avoid biases and misinformation. India, she argued, is uniquely positioned with its population-scale datasets, strong coder base, and robust democratic framework to partner with the U.S. on the future of AI infrastructure.

At the core of her vision is the idea of LLM (Large Language Model) Diplomacy, a framework where nations align not just on AI technology but also on ethical standards, cultural relevance, and trust-based data governance. “Between U.S. and India, we need to build a trust corridor. Our people, our IP, our technology, our collaboration—all of that can travel,” she noted.

The call for collaboration comes at a time when both countries are investing heavily in AI and digital infrastructure. Rai revealed that Invest India is currently facilitating $6 billion worth of investments in Karnataka across sectors such as semiconductors, pharma, and energy, fifteen of which, worth $600 million, are already being operationalised.

While AI holds immense promise, citing how 1,60,000 new viruses were discovered in just one year through AI tools compared to 8,000 previously, Rai warned of potential risks like bugs, bias, malware, misinformation, and agentic failures. She recalled the July 2024 CrowdStrike incident where a buggy patch disrupted airports and hospitals worldwide, underscoring the stakes involved.

As AI becomes central to economic competitiveness and national security, Rai’s call for an Indo-U.S. trust corridor isn’t just timely, it’s strategic. “AI is augmented intelligence. Will it take away our jobs? No, it will add jobs,” she said, framing the conversation not around fear, but around opportunity.