From Battlefields to GenAI Labs: India’s Expanding AI Arsenal
The AI4India Weekly #52
From building hallucination-free, low-cost LLMs to tackling disinformation in modern warfare—this week’s edition of The AI4India Weekly brings you cutting-edge stories from India’s growing AI landscape. We kick off with insights from Dr. Sanat Mohanty, Founder of Pienomial, in the debut episode of the AI4India Podcast, where he unpacks how his team is rethinking LLM architecture to solve two of the field’s toughest challenges. We also delve into Shashi Shekhar Vempati’s sharp take on India’s evolving information strategy, highlight IIT Kanpur’s defense-ready drones, Bengaluru’s AI-driven emergency voice agent, and a fresh look at Agentic AI—automation’s next big leap. Don’t miss the latest on the #DataDaan campaign as we continue building India’s AI future, one dataset at a time.
Understanding the Information Front in Modern Warfare
In a recent opinion piece, Shashi Shekhar Vempati explores the information warfare dimension of Operation Sindoor, India's calibrated response to the Pahalgam terror attack. He highlights how, even before the military operation began, Pakistan launched a disinformation campaign attempting to deflect responsibility and distort facts. This marked a broader trend where modern conflicts unfold not only on the battlefield but also in digital and media spheres—dominated by misinformation, deepfakes, and bot-driven propaganda. Vempati points out how global media narratives often fall short, either downplaying or misrepresenting terrorist acts due to ideological biases or systemic failures.
The article underscores India’s evolving strategy in the information domain—from geopolitical signaling through treaty suspensions to leveraging public messaging by political leadership. Notably, Vempati emphasizes the need to strengthen sovereign digital infrastructure, including Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) broadcasting, to safeguard India’s information space. As deep tech and AI increasingly shape global power equations, he calls for a proactive, tech-driven approach to counter disinformation and assert India’s narrative sovereignty in the face of persistent threats.
How Pienomial is Tackling LLM Hallucinations and Compute Challenges
In the first episode of the AI4India Podcast, we hear from Dr. Sanat Mohanty, Founder of Pienomial and member of the AI4India Forum, on building AI tools that are not just cutting-edge but also practical and scalable for India. In a candid conversation, Dr. Mohanty outlines how Pienomial is addressing two of the biggest challenges facing large language models today—hallucinations and the prohibitive cost of computation.
He explains that while hallucinations are often treated as a UX problem, they are fundamentally tied to how LLMs are trained and how they retrieve and reason over information. Pienomial’s approach combines Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and symbolic systems to reduce hallucinations by grounding outputs in verifiable, real-world data. On the compute front, Pienomial is building stack-efficient LLMs and using techniques like LoRA and distillation to deploy powerful models at a fraction of the cost, even on consumer-grade hardware.
From practical use-cases like multilingual legal reasoning and conversational search to deeper questions about AI policy and sovereign tech infrastructure, this episode dives into the real challenges of GenAI adoption in India—and how Indian innovators are stepping up to solve them.
Watch the full interview below!
IIT Kanpur Drones Enter Final Trials Amid Operation Sindoor
As India strengthens its security posture in the wake of Operation Sindoor, indigenous drone innovation is stepping up to support strategic defense efforts. Drones developed by IIT Kanpur are set to begin trials on May 25, with potential deployment by the Indian Army on the horizon. These trials will test the drones’ ability to perform high-altitude reconnaissance and tactical missions along the Line of Control.
The drones, equipped with advanced sensors and navigation systems, have been designed with battlefield durability in mind and mark a significant step toward self-reliance in critical defense technologies. Their potential induction comes at a time when information warfare and surveillance capabilities are taking center stage in India’s national security strategy. If successful, this deployment could signal a turning point in the integration of academic R&D with frontline military applications.
AI Voice Agent to Break Language Barriers in Bengaluru’s Emergency Response
In a pioneering move to make emergency services more inclusive and efficient, Bengaluru Police is set to deploy an AI-based multilingual voice agent for the 112 emergency helpline. Developed in collaboration with AI startup Vaani, the system is designed to understand and respond in multiple Indian languages and dialects, ensuring faster and more effective assistance regardless of the caller’s language.
Trained on over 80,000 hours of Indian voice data, the voice agent can accurately comprehend regional accents and translate them in real-time for the human operator. This advancement is expected to significantly reduce response time, streamline distress communication, and enhance accessibility for non-English or non-Kannada speakers across Karnataka. The deployment highlights how AI can bridge critical gaps in public service delivery and reaffirms India’s commitment to leveraging indigenous AI innovation for social impact.
Indian Air Defence Neutralizes Turkish Drones Amid Operation Sindoor
As part of India’s continued response under Operation Sindoor, new reports reveal that Indian air defence systems successfully rendered Turkish-origin drones deployed by Pakistan ineffective. According to The Times of India, these drones—reportedly used for surveillance and reconnaissance near the LoC—were effectively countered through a combination of electronic warfare and air defence strategies.
The development highlights the growing maturity of India’s indigenous air defence infrastructure and its ability to tackle asymmetric threats in real time. It also signals a shift in the operational landscape where drone warfare, counter-drone technology, and electronic deterrents are becoming central to India’s strategic doctrine. This marks yet another step in India's move toward self-reliant, tech-driven national security.
AI Buzz of the Week: Agentic AI – The Next Frontier in Automation
In its latest insight piece, EY spotlights "Agentic AI" as the emerging paradigm poised to redefine enterprise automation. Unlike traditional AI systems that rely on narrow inputs and predefined tasks, agentic AI operates with autonomy — capable of initiating actions, setting goals, and dynamically responding to changing environments. These agents can reason, learn, and even collaborate with other agents or humans, opening doors to intelligent orchestration of end-to-end business processes.
The report suggests that as enterprises move beyond task automation towards strategic value creation, agentic AI will be instrumental in driving transformation across industries — from autonomous supply chains and real-time customer service to AI-managed financial operations. While the technology is still evolving, its potential to accelerate decision-making, reduce operational friction, and scale efficiency is already attracting significant interest. As India ramps up its AI adoption, agentic AI may soon become a core feature of the country’s next-gen digital infrastructure.
#DataDaan - Donate for a Digital India
Aligned with the IndiaAI Mission and MeitY’s efforts to ensure the availability of AI-usable data, the #DataDaan campaign by AI4India is now live on DataDaan.org. This initiative invites individuals and organizations to contribute valuable datasets, enriching India’s AI ecosystem and driving innovation across sectors. The platform provides a streamlined process for data contribution, ensuring responsible and impactful AI development. Visit DataDaan.org to explore the initiative and be part of this transformative effort.
NOTE: The views expressed by the authors are their own. AI4India as a forum does not endorse any comments on specific brands, products, platforms or companies.
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