New Delhi, June 13: Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and former CEO of Zoho, stated on Saturday that the recent U.S. export restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence (AI) models underscore the critical importance of technological self-reliance. He emphasized that technology has become central to national security and sovereignty.
In response to the U.S. government’s export control regulations, which have suspended access to Anthropic’s advanced AI models “Mythos” and “Fable” for users outside the U.S., Vembu remarked that this situation illustrates how strategic technologies are now influencing global geopolitics.
In a post on the social media platform X, he noted, “This is a significant development. Access to the Mythos and Fable AI models has been cut off for everyone outside the U.S.”
Describing technology as “the biggest weapon,” Vembu pointed out that national sovereignty and security are now directly linked to technological capabilities. He stated, “Globalization is over, and India must chart its own course.” This incident serves as a wake-up call for India to strengthen its domestic technological ecosystem.
Vembu urged Indian organizations to adopt smaller AI models, including open-source AI models developed in India and China. He believes that with sufficient effort, these models can also be made effective.
He raised a critical question: “When someone is not even willing to sell you technology, why pay them?”
Vembu also stressed the need for increased investment in research and development (R&D). He explained that developing cutting-edge AI models requires substantial financial resources and advanced graphics processing units (GPUs), which are currently concentrated in only a few countries.
According to him, training next-generation AI models could require investments in the tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars. Furthermore, access to the necessary computing resources is now also subject to various restrictions.
He suggested that instead of spending heavily like global AI companies, India should focus on alternative and cost-effective research methods. Vembu mentioned that Zoho has long been working on such low-cost R&D approaches and expressed confidence that consistent innovation and patience could yield positive results.
The entrepreneur further noted that while developing state-of-the-art AI models necessitates significant capital and specialized hardware, India can enhance its AI capabilities through resource-efficient innovative methods.
Meanwhile, AI company Anthropic announced that the U.S. government has issued an export control directive, requiring it to restrict access to its advanced “Fable 5” and “Mythos 5” models for foreign nationals. This restriction will also apply to the company’s foreign employees, whether they are in the U.S. or abroad.
The company stated that it is temporarily suspending access to these models to comply with the government directive, while its other AI models will remain available as before. Anthropic also mentioned that it believes this decision was made due to a misunderstanding and is working to restore access to the affected models as soon as possible.
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