INDIA SHOULD PRIORITISE DECENTRALISED, APPLICATION-DRIVEN SYSTEMS OVER CAPITAL-INTENSIVE FRONTIER MODELS TO AVOID FRAGILE DEPENDENCIES IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: ECONOMIC SURVEY

• Economic Survey 2025-26 frames AI as an economic strategy, not a prestige tech race, urging India to skip the capital-intensive frontier-model arms race and back frugal, decentralised, application-driven AI.
• Approach to align with India's structural realities — capital, energy, institutional capacity, market depth — and avoid fragile dependencies on foreign foundation models.
• High UPSC salience: intersects GS-III (Sci-Tech, Economy), GS-II (Governance, digital inclusion) and ethics of AI.