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India among few developing nations with strong AI investment

India and China were the only developing nations to attract notable private investment in AI in 2023, according to the UN’s Technology and Innovation Report 2025. Instead of the US simply leading the field, it dominated with $67 billion in AI investment, accounting for 70 per cent of the global total.

China followed with $7.8 billion, while India ranked tenth worldwide with $1.4 billion. Instead of being evenly distributed, access to AI infrastructure and research remains heavily concentrated in a handful of countries, mainly the US and China.

India’s rise in the AI space stems from policy-driven innovation and education rather than organic growth alone. It climbed to 36th place out of 170 on the UNCTAD Frontier Technologies Readiness Index in 2024, improving from 48th in 2022.

Instead of only focusing on economic size, the index measures readiness through ICT availability, skills, R&D, industrial capacity, and financing. India performed well in R&D and industrial capacity but fell behind in ICT access and skill development.

India has supported its AI ecosystem through collaboration between the government, academia, and the private sector. The country hosts a large developer base, around 13 million, and contributes actively to generative AI projects on platforms like GitHub.

Programmes such as the India AI Mission aim to boost AI education and innovation in smaller cities, instead of keeping progress limited to major urban centres. Institutes like IIT Hyderabad and IIT Kharagpur were named among the country’s key centres of AI excellence.

Still, India faces challenges in expanding its AI capabilities across all sectors. Instead of allowing AI to widen inequalities, the report urges investment in workforce reskilling and inclusion. While AI can boost productivity, it may also displace jobs unless paired with supportive policies.

The technology, if harnessed wisely, could create new industries and strengthen employment rather than replace it.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

Lumai raises $10 million to revolutionise AI with optical technology

AI accelerator startup Lumai has secured over $10 million in funding to advance its optical computing technology.

The investment round was led by Constructor Capital, with support from IP Group and new investors including PhotonVentures, Journey Ventures, and State Farm Ventures. The funding will be used to expand Lumai’s workforce, develop new products, and establish a stronger presence in the United States market.

Spun out of the University of Oxford, Lumai aims to tackle the growing energy demands of AI by replacing traditional silicon-based computing with optical processing.

Its technology processes AI’s core arithmetic operations using beams of light in 3D space, bypassing the limitations of conventional GPUs.

By using low-cost optical components, Lumai claims its accelerators can cut AI inference costs to a tenth of current solutions while delivering 50 times the performance and consuming just 10% of the power.

The demand for AI computing power is increasing rapidly, with US data centres expected to triple their energy consumption by 2028.

Lumai’s CEO, Tim Weil, believes optical computing is the key to unlocking the future of AI, enabling more sustainable and cost-effective advancements in large language models and next-generation AI.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

Siemens buys Dotmatics to boost AI drug research

Siemens announced on Wednesday its acquisition of US software firm Dotmatics for $5.1 billion, aiming to enhance its AI capabilities for drug discovery.

The German company described the deal as complementary to its expansion into Life Sciences, positioning itself in a market increasingly reliant on digital transformation to meet growing medical needs.

Siemens expects Dotmatics to generate $100 million annually in the mid-term, rising to $500 million in the long run, and said the acquisition would be immediately profitable. The transaction is set to be completed in the first half of next year.

Founded in 2005, Dotmatics employs 800 people and specialises in AI-driven R&D software designed to accelerate drug research. This move follows Siemens’ recent $10 billion purchase of another AI-powered US software firm, Altair Engineering.

As Siemens’ industrial software faces slowing demand, its digital division has been driving revenue growth instead of its traditional factory automation products. The company, Germany’s second-largest by market value, continues expanding its software portfolio to capitalise on AI-driven innovations.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

OpenAI’s Deep Research feature to expand to free users

OpenAI is preparing to make its Deep Research feature available to free-tier users, following its initial rollout to Plus and Enterprise customers.

The tool, designed to conduct in-depth online research, allows ChatGPT to analyse vast amounts of information, synthesise key findings, and generate detailed reports. Isa Fulford, a member of OpenAI’s technical staff, recently confirmed the planned expansion in a post on X.

Deep Research is powered by an optimised version of the o3 model, which enhances web browsing and data analysis capabilities.

Users can request reports on various topics, such as global smartphone adoption trends, and receive summaries with citations, graphs, and insights. The tool can also process text, images, and PDFs from online sources to provide more comprehensive responses.

No official timeline has been announced for when free users will gain access to the feature, but OpenAI’s move signals an effort to expand the accessibility of advanced AI-driven research.

The functionality may also allow users to upload their own files for more personalised analysis, further enhancing the potential of ChatGPT as a research assistant.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

Anthropic introduces Claude to revolutionise learning and teaching

Claude for Education, launched by Anthropic, introduces a specialised AI for higher education, aiming to support universities in teaching, learning, and administration.

The initiative includes key features like Learning mode, full campus access for top universities, and partnerships with organisations like Internet2 and Instructure to integrate AI into academic tools.

Learning mode helps students develop critical thinking by guiding them through problems with Socratic questioning instead of providing direct answers. It also offers templates for research and study.

Key academic partnerships include Northeastern University, London School of Economics, and Champlain College, all of which will benefit from campus-wide access to Claude. These partnerships ensure AI’s responsible integration and accessibility for all students.

New student programs, such as the Claude Campus Ambassadors and API credit initiatives, provide opportunities for students to engage with and build on AI tools.

The launch also coincides with efforts to integrate AI into the academic plans of institutions like Northeastern University, which is pioneering AI adoption in higher education with its ‘Northeastern 2025’ initiative.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

OpenAI CEO says India leads in AI creativity

Sam Altman sparked interest among Indian users on X after praising the country’s rapid AI adoption and sharing an AI-generated image of himself playing cricket. In his 2 April post, the OpenAI CEO called India’s AI creativity an ‘explosion,’ claiming the country was outpacing the world in adoption rates.

Users questioned why Altman singled out India, with some turning to AI chatbots like Perplexity and Grok for verification. His comments followed a February visit to India, where he met IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and highlighted India as OpenAI’s second-largest market.

Altman’s remarks also came shortly after OpenAI’s GPT-4o update, which enhanced AI-generated images and illustrations. To showcase this, he shared an anime-style image of himself as a cricket player, sporting a Team India jersey.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

Bill Gates foresees AI-driven two-day work weeks

Bill Gates has predicted that AI will reduce work hours significantly, with two-day work weeks becoming a reality in the next decade.

His vision contrasts with views in India, where figures like Narayana Murthy and S.N. Subrahmanyan argue for longer work hours instead of reducing them, believing they are crucial for economic growth.

However, Harsh Goenka and Harish Mariwala, who focus on ambition and productivity instead of hours worked, have a different take. They stress the importance of quality instead of quantity in work hours.

Studies, such as those from Iceland and New Zealand, suggest that reduced working hours can lead to higher productivity and a better work-life balance.

In Iceland, trials reducing weekly hours from 40 to 35 saw workers feeling more energised and less stressed, while New Zealand’s Perpetual Guardian found that employees completed tasks in fewer hours, raising engagement and reducing stress.

Despite Gates’ prediction, the idea of working only two days a week seems extreme, especially considering his past work ethic.

Gates himself worked long hours instead of fewer ones during his early career, fearing mistakes could cost him his company, but he acknowledges that AI and technology have shifted the landscape.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

The overlooked legacy of the Lwów–Warsaw school in shaping modern AI

AI may seem like a modern marvel, but its foundations stretch back to early 20th-century philosophical thought—particularly to the Lwów–Warsaw School of Philosophy. In a recent blog by Jovan Kurbalija, Executive Director of Diplo, he highlights how this influential movement, established by Kazimierz Twardowski and active between the world wars, made groundbreaking contributions to logic, semantics, and analytical philosophy—fields that underpin today’s AI systems.

Despite being overshadowed by more famous contemporaries like the Vienna Circle, the Lwów–Warsaw School cultivated thinkers whose work continues to shape how machines process language and make decisions. Among the most influential figures was Alfred Tarski, whose formal definition of truth laid the groundwork for natural language processing (NLP), enabling AI to understand and generate human language.

Another key contributor, Jan Łukasiewicz, developed many-valued logic—a system that goes beyond simple true/false decisions and allows machines to reason through uncertainty, essential in complex tasks like autonomous driving or medical diagnostics. The school’s importance isn’t just technical.

Its strong emphasis on analytical rigour also offers tools for navigating AI’s growing ethical concerns—ranging from fairness in algorithmic decisions to broader questions about consciousness and societal impact. Though these philosophical aspects are less often discussed, they’re crucial for ensuring AI development remains responsible and aligned with human values.

The intellectual legacy is rarely acknowledged in mainstream AI history. Yet, as Kurbalija emphasises, AI’s roots are deeper and more diverse than we often realise. Revisiting the Lwów–Warsaw School highlights how past ideas can still guide us in shaping the technologies of tomorrow.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

Lip-Bu Tan outlines his vision for Intel’s future

Intel’s newly appointed chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, has pledged to restore customer trust and strengthen the company’s engineering-driven culture.

Speaking at the Intel Vision conference, he assured customers that the next-generation Panther Lake chips would launch this year, continuing Intel’s progress in advanced chipmaking.

With a background in electronic design automation, Tan brings extensive industry experience but is not a traditional semiconductor executive. He has served as CEO of Cadence Design Systems and was previously a venture capitalist and an Intel board member.

Acknowledging Intel’s recent struggles, he vowed to refine strategies, spin off non-core businesses, and focus on AI and software-driven growth.

Tan promised to lead Intel’s expansion into third-party chip manufacturing and collaborate with policymakers to advance its foundry business.

Emphasising his commitment to turning the company around, he urged customers to be ‘brutally honest’ about their expectations, stating, ‘We may not be perfect in the beginning, but eventually, I will make it perfect.’

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.

Advanced quantum computing could transform particle physics research

Scientists have made a major breakthrough in understanding the fundamental particles and forces that shape the universe.

A team from the University of Innsbruck in Austria and the Institute for Quantum Computing in Canada has successfully used quantum computers to simulate particle interactions more effectively than ever before.

The research introduces a new approach using qudits, which can store more information than traditional qubits.

With this technology, the team built a quantum computer capable of simulating a full quantum field theory in two dimensions, a significant improvement over previous efforts.

The simulations even revealed the formation of magnetic fields between particles, something not seen in earlier one-dimensional studies.

Researchers believe this advancement could lead to even more complex simulations, including three-dimensional particle interactions and insights into the strong nuclear force.

Physicist Martin Ringbauer describes the development as just the beginning, highlighting the potential of quantum computers to answer some of the biggest mysteries in physics.

For more information on these topics, visit diplomacy.edu.