On the CAIO Connect Podcast, Owen Larter and Sanjay Puri explore AI trust, governance, multilingual access, and India’s growing AI leadership.
WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, February 25, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — In the CAIO Connect Podcast, the host Sanjay Puri interviewed Owen Larter, who is in charge of global policy at Google DeepMind, at the AI Innovation Impact Summit. The interview revolved around the defining question of our era: how can we scale AI responsibly while making sure it is trusted, inclusive, and safe?
Trust as the Foundation of AI’s Future
Right from the beginning, Larter stressed that the future of AI not only relies on technological innovation but also on the creation of a robust trust framework. At Google DeepMind, he said, the development of more sophisticated AI systems is inextricably linked with collaboration with governments to help them understand the technology and manage it effectively. AI systems cannot be “black boxes” that are deployed at a large scale; they have to be tested and improved.
India’s Growing Role in the Global AI Landscape
India, he said, is also positioning itself as a significant player in AI. The country’s investments in digital public infrastructure and connectivity provide a strong foundation for the adoption of AI. Projects that apply AI to agriculture, education, and scientific research show that this is not just a Silicon Valley phenomenon. AI is increasingly being used as a tool for farmers to track crop health, students to improve learning outcomes, and researchers to speed up medical discoveries.
AI in Action: Transforming Science and Healthcare
A case in point is the increasing adoption of sophisticated AI technology by Indian researchers. Thousands of researchers are utilizing protein prediction software to gain a better understanding of diseases and work on novel treatments. This is a further example of a point made in the CAIO Connect Podcast with Sanjay Puri: the transformative power of AI will be realized in all industries, not only in tech centers.
Inclusion Through Multilingual AI
However, scale by itself is not sufficient. Accessibility and inclusion are still core issues. The linguistic diversity of India is both an opportunity and a challenge. Larter pointed out the efforts being made to enhance the performance of AI in the Indic languages so that the AI is useful regardless of whether the person speaks Tamil, Gujarati, Hindi, or Telugu. Multilinguality is not just a functionality but the basis for accessibility of AI.
The Rise of Agentic AI and New Governance Questions
Another important theme was the emergence of agentic AI, which has the ability to function more independently and perform tasks on behalf of users. Although such abilities offer unprecedented opportunities for productivity, they also raise new issues of governance. How can we test agentic systems? How can we make them secure? How can we develop common standards to give firms and citizens assurance?
Learning from the Internet Era
Larter made a very pertinent comparison to the early days of the internet, where open standards had facilitated its growth and trust. By the same token, the “agentic economy” will also need strong safety nets and global collaboration. Strong institutions focused on AI safety and security, involving the government, academia, industry, and civil society, are necessary for the development of effective testing strategies.
Leadership Matters: Governments Must Step Forward
One thing that was clear throughout the discussion on the CAIO Connect Podcast with Sanjay Puri is that governments need to take the lead. They cannot just sit back and watch as AI develops. They need to be the ones to implement the technology and work towards making it useful, secure, and trustworthy.
Building the AI Era on Trust
As Larter concluded, the process of transitioning into an AI-enabled future is a collective process. Innovation in the industry needs to be complemented by leadership in the public domain. Progress needs to be accompanied by effective governance. And access needs to extend beyond experts and elites.
The age of AI has arrived. The question is whether we will build it on the foundation of trust.
Upasana Das
Knowledge Networks
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
X
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability
for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this
article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
