AI on 'Open Networks' can allow innovation at scale: Nandan Nilekani

Speaking at the India AI Summit 2026, Nandan Nilekani, Founder of Networks for Humanity, on Friday said, "while AI is a powerful general-purpose technology, its true value emerges when it operates on Open Networks and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) that allow innovation at scale."

Drawing on India’s success with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), he explained how open architecture enables multiple actors to build at the edge, accelerating adoption and inclusion. Across healthcare, education, agriculture, and energy, AI agents layered on such networks can remove complexity for users whether farmers, small entrepreneurs, or citizens seeking essential services—through simple, multilingual, voice-enabled mobile interfaces, he added.

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"By hiding backend complexity and functioning within privacy-preserving frameworks, these agents can make digital systems universally accessible," Nilekani said.

Building on this foundation, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw - Chairperson, Biocon Group said, healthcare was a transformative opportunity. She proposed creation of a health stack on top of India’s DPI to serve as a global reference model for universal, sustainable healthcare delivery. "By aggregating large-scale phenotypic, genomic, demographic, radiological, treatment, and outcomes data within consent-based, secure data-sharing systems similar to UPI, AI can enable rapid population-level risk profiling and innovative insurance models," she added.

She also emphasised on empowering frontline ASHA workers with AI tools to shift care from hospital-centric systems to predictive, preventive, and community-based models.

Looking ahead, Mazumdar-Shaw said, "Without AI, you cannot have deep insights into biology. The future will be defined by this convergence."