London, March 25 — Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said both India and the United Kingdom have emerged as global AI superpowers, underscoring deepening technological ties between the two nations. Speaking at an AI event hosted by the High Commission of India in London, Sunak cited the Stanford AI Index as evidence of their standing, noting that India recently moved ahead of the UK in those rankings. He lightened the point with a nod to sporting rivalry, reminding Indian leaders that England still leads in the ICC Test standings. Sunak stressed that India and the UK share a common approach to AI governance: neither favors the EU’s top-down regulatory model nor the patchwork US response. Instead, he said both prefer a pragmatic, innovation-friendly, principles-first strategy and argued they can rally other countries around that stance. Emphasizing security, Sunak highlighted the need for cooperation to manage risks from emerging technologies. He noted that India established an AI Security Institute last year and called for closer collaboration between that body and its UK counterpart, comparing potential joint work to the benefits of existing intelligence-sharing against shared threats. He also pointed to the UK-India Technology Security Initiative as a concrete example of 21st-century security cooperation that will strengthen joint work on emerging tech. India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, echoed the view that India is becoming a major AI force and said there is strong scope for partnership, given complementary capabilities showcased recently in both countries.
