(17 Feb 2026) The novelty of generative AI is behind us. In 2026, Indian higher education will no longer be asking whether AI will disrupt campuses but how to embed it responsibly into everyday academic life.
With India’s tech industry expected to cross US$280 billion in annual revenue and AI projected to add about US$1.7 trillion to the economy by 2035, universities are emerging as key sites where India’s sovereign AI ambitions will either take shape or stall.
The IndiaAI Mission embodies this ambition. Backed by more than INR103 billion (US$1.1 billion) and a national compute backbone of approximately 38,000 GPUs, it aims to build an open, affordable AI ecosystem with strong domestic capabilities.
For vice-chancellors and directors, this changes the conversation. It is no longer sufficient to license Copilot, Gemini, or the next foundation model and hope for the best results. The central question is governance: how to harness these tools while managing the legal, ethical, social and psychological risks that accompany them.
Read more here.
