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In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

Atreja, D. (2026, October 10). In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3369950/ai-indias-choice-neednt-be-between-us-leash-or-chinese-hook?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-10 · by Dhruv Atreja

Quick Summary

Dhruv Atreja, head of AI research at Fastino Labs, discusses India's dilemma in choosing between US and Chinese AI models. On June 12, Anthropic’s AI models were temporarily shut down due to U.S. export restrictions, demonstrating how easily access can be revoked. Meanwhile, China offered to establish an open-source AI community for Brics nations, promising flexibility but with built-in biases, such as a chatbot refusing to acknowledge Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory. India is pursuing its own development of large-scale AI models and exploring significant investments, including up to 200 billion rupees in a new AI fund, to maintain independence from foreign controls.
Written by AI on 2026-10-11, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On June 12, two leading artificial intelligence models went offline due to an American export directive that restricted foreign users' access. The AI models, developed by Anthropic, were later reactivated on July 1 but highlighted the vulnerability of India's reliance on U.S.-developed technology. In September, during the Brics summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping offered to establish a Brics AI open-source community, promising accessible and adaptable Chinese models that would not face similar restrictions from Washington. Dhruv Atreja, head of AI research at Fastino Labs in New York, emphasizes India's need to adapt any available AI model to meet its specific requirements while ensuring continued functionality without external control.

Written for “India AI Policy Choices” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 India AI Policy Choices
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
13
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
15%
2 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
62/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-11 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 8 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Dhruv Atreja
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 An American export directive barred foreigners from using Anthropic’s two flagship AI models, and because the company could not check every user’s nationality, it switched them off.
2026-10-10 · assertive framing · In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

American Chinese India Indian Washington

Subjects

Chinese NORP · 6× American NORP · 4× Beijing GPE · 2× India GPE · 2× Indian NORP · 2× Washington GPE · 2× Anthropic ORG · 1× Dhruv Atreja PERSON · 1× Fastino Labs ORG · 1× New York GPE · 1×

Narrative

Advertisement In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook What matters most is the ability to take any AI model – American or Chinese – make it serve Indian needs, prove it works and keep it running 3-MIN READ3-MIN Dhruv Atreja is head of AI research at Fastino Labs in New York, where he has led post-training collaborations with leading US technology companies, working with open-weight models from American and Chinese developers. On June 12, two of the world’s most capable artificial intelligence models went dark.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-11
🔮 An American export directive barred foreigners from using Anthropic’s two flagship AI models, and because the company could not check every user’s nationality, it switched them off.
2026-10-11 · South China Morning Post
In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook · assertive framing

Claims (13 extracted, 2 hedged)

Advertisement In AI, India’s choice needn’t be between a US leash or Chinese hook What matters most is the ability to take any AI model – American or Chinese – make it serve Indian needs, prove it works and keep it running 3-MIN READ3-MIN Dhruv Atreja is head of AI research at Fastino Labs in New York, where he has led post-training collaborations with leading US technology companies, working with open-weight models from American and Chinese developers. On June 12, two of the world’s most capable artificial intelligence models went dark. asserted
two → matter → models
An American export directive barred foreigners from using Anthropic’s two flagship AI models, and because the company could not check every user’s nationality, it switched them off. uncertain
it → bar → them
Access returned on July 1 but the warning is clear: India’s AI future can be switched off from Washington. asserted
future → return → Washington
In September, Beijing came calling. asserted
Beijing → call → September
At the Brics summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised China would “be a pioneer in establishing a Brics AI open-source community”. asserted
China → promise → community
Chinese open models are capable, cheap and free to adapt; once downloaded, no one in Washington can take them away. But this is a choice between a leash and a hook. asserted
this → adapt → leash
American access can be yanked away overnight. asserted
access → yank → ?
Chinese models cannot be switched off once downloaded, but they arrive with Beijing’s sensitivities built in. asserted
sensitivities → switch → ?
Asked whether Arunachal Pradesh is an Indian state, DeepSeek’s chatbot declined to answer. asserted
chatbot → ask → ?
No country of 1.4 billion people should run its banks, courts and public services on either. asserted
country → run → either
Delhi’s response so far has been to chase size. asserted
response → chase → size
Start-up Sarvam AI plans to build a trillion-parameter model; so does state-backed BharatGen. asserted
BharatGen → plan → model
The government is reportedly exploring an anchor investment of up to 200 billion rupees (US$2.08 billion) in a new frontier AI fund, on top of the 103.7 billion rupees the “IndiaAI Mission” approved in 2024. uncertain
Mission → explore → 2024
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