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Andreas Kuehn and Anulekha Nandi, Eds., Shaping U.S.-India A.I. Cooperation: Insights from the Inaugural U.S.-India A.I. Fellowship Program, Observer Research Foundation, September 2025.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is promising a profound technological transformation and relentless innovation that will have wide-ranging benefits to society. Nowhere does this hold greater potential than in the burgeoning relationship between the United States (US) and India—two powerhouse democracies with complementary strengths: on one side stands the United States with its leading technology, unmatched innovation capacity, and vast financial capital; and on the other is India, with its large talent pool in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, and immense data resources. To unlock AI’s full potential, the governments, businesses, and academic and research institutions of both countries must work together. This publication seeks to offer some of the viable ways by which US-India cooperation in AI can be done.
As AI and technology is emerging as a pillar of the bilateral relationship, India and the US are heightening cooperation in the technology domain, driven by a blend of strategic and commercial incentives anchored in their respective national interests. This kind of technology partnership, however, is not new and can be traced back to the 2005 landmark US-India Civil Nuclear Initiative, which catalysed broader cooperation in science, technology, and defence.
Overall, economic and security relations between the two countries have deepened over the past two decades. In February 2025, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed the US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, a designation that was formalised in 2020 during President Trump’s state visit to India in his first tenure.[1]
The US leads the world in innovation through its research and development capabilities, advanced technologies, and robust private investment ecosystem; India, meanwhile, offers skilled talent and extensive data resources generated by its billion-plus population through daily online and offline interactions. These complementary strengths present unique opportunities for AI collaboration. First, under the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET), and continuing under the Transforming the Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology (TRUST) initiative, the two countries are aiming to foster cooperation in domains such as academic research, agricultural and defence applications, and technology commercialisation, while encouraging sustained commitment and implementation by industry leaders and academic institutions.
It was against this dynamic backdrop that Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and ORF America launched the US-India AI Fellowship Program in September 2024. The programme brought together 20 early- to mid-career professionals from both countries belonging to industry, government, academia, and civil society to catalyse ideas, build professional networks, and contribute to a common vision for responsible and innovative AI. The Fellowship has been more than a leadership exercise; it is an attempt to build a bridge between the two nations to develop and sustain US-India cooperation in AI and technology.
Throughout the one-year programme—from October 2024 to September 2025—our Fellows conducted a series of in-person meetings. Some of these meetings were held in the run-up to the Raisina Dialogue in March, starting with Abu Dhabi in January 2025, followed by New Delhi in March, and finally in Washington, DC in September of 2025 for their concluding meeting and the launch of this volume. Interspersed with these convenings were regular, virtual guest lectures and workshops. A subset of Fellows also participated in ORF’s Yerevan Dialogue in Armenia in May 2025 and Raisina Mediterranean in Marseilles in June, while others joined ORF America’s Track 1.5 Dialogue on US-India AI and Technology Cooperation at the SCSP AI Expo in Washington, DC, also in June 2025.
Engaging and building networks with AI experts, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and industry leaders from both the United States and India, the fellowship programme offered a rare opportunity to blend practical insight with rigorous in-depth research and cross-cultural exchange. Building on this, the Fellows contributed to this edited volume as well as a series of thought pieces that have previously been published by ORF and ORF America.[2]
This volume, “Shaping U.S.-India A.I. Cooperation: Insights from the Inaugural U.S.-India A.I. Fellowship Program”, is a compendium of our Fellows’ ideas and perspectives on different but interrelated subjects around the theme of AI. It offers a pioneering glimpse into how the next generation of thinkers and doers from both India and the US view the promise and perils of AI, and the future pathways that both nations can take. The articles identify the various ways by which the United States and India can cooperate for the benefit of their societies and citizens.
The articles contained in this volume offer varied opinions and prescriptions, and are not limited to the contours of specific policy priorities. Instead, they span a wide terrain: from the governance of AI and export controls on GPUs to workforce development and training, from the importance of creating responsible, fair AI to benefit all of society to the need for cutting-edge research and innovation to ensure AI leadership for industry, the economy, and national security. They also delve into the role that AI plays in leading democracies to the political alignment of like-minded countries in forums such as the Quad and TRUST.
Some contributions use a macro lens, exploring what a US-India AI cooperation could and should look like against the backdrop of increased global uncertainty; others dive into sector-specific issues and challenges, such as healthcare, extreme weather risks, and defence and space applications, as well as AI safety. Certain authors reflect on the implications of AI and digital public infrastructure for the Global South, as well as creative visions for joint R&D, capacity-building, and AI infrastructure development. These articles are threaded by a shared ambition: to imagine and help build a future in which AI serves society while addressing the risks and dangers that are an inevitable part of any widespread application of an emerging technology.
As the global AI landscape rapidly evolves, India and the United States have a historic opportunity to shape its trajectory. Their cooperation will not only matter for their own citizens, companies and governments, but will likely influence how AI is governed, developed, and deployed around the world.
We express our heartfelt gratitude to the following organisations and individuals for making this unique fellowship possible. We are especially grateful to Dr. Samir Saran for his overarching vision and leadership; to Dhruva Jaishankar and Sharon Stirling for their guidance and steadfast support in enabling ORF America’s participation in the programme; and to Anirban Sarma, Jeffrey D. Bean, Natalie Boyse, and Ishani Chettri for their unwavering commitment and programme support throughout the duration of the project. Our sincere thanks also go to Shubh Soni, Tanoubi Ngangom, Pulkit Mohan, Sanjith Srikanth, Sukhmani Sharma, Sarah Sawhney, and the entire ORF Raisina Dialogue team for their exceptional efforts in coordinating events, meetings, and travel for all Fellows and staff. We thank Stelin Paul, and again Jeffrey D. Bean for their invaluable editorial guidance.
The chapters in this book have greatly benefited from the insightful critiques from our external reviewers and ORF experts, including, Amoha Basrur, Anirban Sarma, Aparna Roy, Basu Chandola, Chaitanya Giri, Oommen C. Kurian, Sameer Patil, Shravishtha Ajaykumar, K. S. Uplabdh Gopal, and Vivek Mishra. We thank Vinia Mukherjee, Monika Ahlawat, Meryl Mammen, and Rahil Shaikh for the dogged editorial and production work that put together our Fellows' articles into this one impressive volume. Finally, we thank all members of the ORF AI Task Force, as well as every guest lecturer and speaker who joined us for our convenings—their generosity with their time and knowledge enriched our discussions manifold.
This volume, like the fellowship programme it emerged from, is just a first step in helping craft an enduring US-India AI partnership. As the broader bilateral relationship continues to evolve, the structural nature of these relationships provides confidence in finding common ground for strategic technology partnerships between the two countries.
Read the monograph here.
All views expressed in this publication are solely those of the authors, and do not represent ORF or ORF America, either in their entirety or their officials and personnel.
[1] Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, https://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/32421/Joint_Statement_Vision_and_Principles_for_IndiaUS_Comprehensive_Global_Strategic_Partnership, 2020.
[2] Shorter versions of these chapters have previously been published as commentaries by ORF at: https://www.orfonline.org/series/u-s-india-ai-fellowship-program and ORF America at: https://orfamerica.org/us-india-ai-fellowship.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Andreas Kuehn is Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation America. He oversees ORF America’s Technology Policy Program, and leads ORF’s US-India AI Fellowship Program. ...
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Dr. Anulekha Nandi was a Fellow - Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at ORF. Her primary area of research includes digital innovation management and ...
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