Kunal Shah On Why India Should Treat AI like WhatsApp and LED Bulbs
The debate around whether India should build its own foundational AI models in AI has now reached CRED CEO Kunal Shah. In a fireside chat with Harshil Mathur, CEO of Razorpay, at the FTX’25 event, Shah said he is worried that India is focusing on the wrong discussion. “We didn’t question why India didn’t invent WhatsApp or LED bulbs. We just adopted them and became the best at using them. That should be our approach with AI,” Shah argued. “We built UPI; we are the beneficiaries of that. The world should be copying that.” Shah said the question we should be asking is how to leverage what we already have. He added that most jobs in India are hyper-inefficient, and as a large country, we should be finding ways to solve that using AI. “It’s a little bit like podcasts — everybody is making one, nobody is watching them,” Shah quipped. “That’s not how it should be for LLMs. Let’s become the largest user of LLMs in the world instead of trying to worry about who is building the answer to China or the US. Let’s become the largest users and beneficiaries of LLMs.” The thought aligns with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani’s idea of India becoming the AI use-case capital of the world, which a lot of Indian entrepreneurs are mulling over. Known for his sharp insights and thought-provoking discussions on X, Shah said that India should be both excited and scared of AI. How India Should Use AI After taking an audience poll on how they use AI regularly, Shah pointed out that much like the internet’s early days, AI is currently used for trivial activities—correcting grammar, generating memes, and chatting about personal dilemmas. Very few truly grasp its deeper implications. “AI is more like electricity than the internet,” Shah explained. “The world’s GDP skyrocketed after electricity. AI is about to do the same. The question is: Are we ready for it?” One of AI’s biggest risks, according to Shah, is its tendency to reinforce user biases. Much like social media algorithms, AI tools provide tailored responses, which may prevent individuals from being challenged or corrected. Unlike human therapists or mentors who question flawed logic, AI simply affirms and enables the user’s beliefs. “AI won’t tell you that you’re wrong. It’ll just keep you happy,” Shah remarked. This, he believes, can create echo chambers, making people more susceptible to misinformation and manipulation. “Be Wary of Today’s College Students” Younger generations are already displaying greater trust in AI’s decision-making than their older counterparts. “A 50-year-old and a 20-year-old view AI very differently. The younger generation has no fear of it. They’ve grown up with it,” he observed. When asked what advice he would give to college graduates, Shah said that the ability to learn new concepts and topics within 24 hours in the age of AI is going to be crucial. “Update your LinkedIn with the title ‘absolute learner’.” He added that starting a company is now becoming easier and cheaper as founders don’t need to recruit more employees. “You might even be able to do it without hiring a single employee,” Shah said. AI’s impact on professional competency is another major concern. Shah compared AI copilots in coding to calculators in math: they can boost productivity but may also erode fundamental skills. While some developers are becoming 10x more efficient, others are growing increasingly dependent on AI, leading to a “dumbing down” effect. Shah predicts that AI will dramatically alter the job market, leading to a sharp distinction between those who leverage AI and those who do not. Companies will eventually compensate AI-enabled employees differently as productivity gaps widen. “The metric that will soon matter the most is revenue per employee,” Shah stated. “If one engineer is 20x more productive because of AI, why would a company pay the same salary to someone who refuses to use AI?”
“Be wary of today’s college students. They were born in AI. You’re still figuring out which tool to use.”
“We didn’t question why India didn’t invent WhatsApp or LED bulbs. We just adopted them and became the best at using them."
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Mohit writes about AI in simple, explainable, and often funny words. He's especially passionate about chatting with those building AI for Bharat, with the occasional detour into AGI.