#BTDAVOS2026: Can India Shape The World’s AI Future? Google’s James Manyika Weighs In

James Manyika, Senior Vice President at Google Alphabet, discusses the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence with Business Today at Davos. Manyika describes AI as a 'general purpose technology' and an 'invention for inventing', comparing its impact to a combination of the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment. He highlights how AI is accelerating scientific discovery, citing AlphaFold's mapping of 200 million proteins and the discovery of 2.2 million new crystals. The conversation focuses on AI's potential in India, specifically in healthcare through diabetic retinopathy screening and tuberculosis diagnostics, and in agriculture with monsoon prediction models reaching 38 million farmers. Addressing job concerns, Manyika emphasizes that while some roles may decline, the primary effect will be job transformation requiring large-scale re-skilling. He also touches upon Project Vaani's work on Indic languages and the importance of bridging the 'AI divide' to ensure global accessibility to these breakthroughs.