Debasis Mohapatra Bengaluru

IndianIT industry has been put on a disadvantage owing to the decision of the US government to restrict access of all foreigners to Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models.

According to industry experts, Indian IT services companies and GCCs operating out of India may not be able to execute work, leveraging these most-advanced models of Anthropic due to the restrictions. They said it has necessitated debates about sovereign AI models in India owing to the possible risks arising from such decisions.

“Such restrictions have raised geographical risks for the Indian IT industry as IT companies and GCCs will not be able to execute work, using these models. As India is a key delivery centre for the global technology industry, it puts the IT industry in a disadvantageous position. Though there is no immediate impact on work flow as these models are very new, but it will dampen sentiments of businesses about India as a delivery centre,” Pareekh Jain, an IT outsourcing advisor & Founder of Pareekh Consulting told the Bizz Buzz.

He also said that Indian IT companies may have to find another avenue for getting access to these models by creating separate subsidiary in the US, which is manned by US citizens.

On Sunday, Anthropic said that it would abruptly disable access to these most advanced models for all foreign nationals as part of the US government’s export control directive.

It is Anthropic’s understanding that the government (US govt) believes there is a method of bypassing, or “jailbreaking”, a safeguard that would prevent Fable 5 from being used in identifying software vulnerabilities, the company said.

According to industry experts, the US government’s concern over cybersecurity issues prompted it to restrict access to all foreign nationals. However, it can dent India’s prospects as a AI hub in the world, especially in cybersecurity space.

“Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing areas on the back of rapid AI development. India has set eyes to be an AI hub in cybersecurity and data centre spaces. Such restrictions pose risks to that ambition,” said Jain. Meanwhile, the US restriction on advanced AI models has sparked a national debate in India with many tech entrepreneurs advocating for India’s own LLMs (large language models) to stay in the intense AI race.

Zoho Founder, Sridhar Vembu wrote in a social media post, ““Globalization is dead and Bharat must find her own way ahead. Indians who still believe global markets will always remain open should wake up now.”

He also wrote ‘Technology is the ultimate weapon. National sovereignty, national security, all of it is now about technology.’