AI Appreciation Day 2026: Insights from Industry Leaders

Today is AI Appreciation Day, Several experts from across the industries have shared their thoughts and views on the importance of AI in our lives. Here are some quotes from experts.

Rajnish Gupta, MD & Country Manager, Tenable India

“AI Appreciation Day shouldn’t just be a celebration of productivity, it needs to be a reality check for how we manage risk.

The defining feature of this era is the sheer velocity of AI adoption, and India sits at the front of that curve. Recent industry data puts weekly generative AI usage among Indian employees at 92%—among the highest anywhere in the world. It’s created a corporate culture driven by instant gratification, where timelines that used to take days are collapsed into seconds. This is unlocking undeniable innovation, but convenience always wins until the consequences catch up.

Right now, speed has become the only priority. Anything that introduces a moment of friction, whether it's governance, compliance, or essential security checks, is being viewed as an obstacle rather than a necessity.

Employees are eagerly feeding sensitive corporate data into unvetted large language models, and in India this shows up starkly. Shadow AI usage here runs as high as 58%, the highest of any market tracked. Under the DPDP Act, 2023, that represents a governance and compliance exposure, since unauthorised processing or disclosure of personal data can itself constitute a reportable breach. We’ve seen this exact movie before with rushed cloud migrations, only this time it’s happening faster and at a much greater scale. This isn’t an argument against AI; its benefits are real and irreversible. But we are building an exponential future on a fragile foundation.

The way forward is shoring up defences at the speed of adoption. That means enterprise-grade exposure management platforms with proper data controls and clear policy on what can and cannot be shared with public models, and training that treats AI security and literacy as seriously as data privacy. Boards and CXOs must stop treating governance and cybersecurity as a compliance checkbox and start treating it as a necessary part of infrastructure itself. The fastest to adopt won’t win as big as the ones that adopt it safely.

Hariprasad PS, Head of AI, HyperVerge

“AI Appreciation Day asks a harder question than most calendar observances. While the world is focused on how AI improves productivity, is it really bias-free? Every day, AI systems decide in milliseconds whether a face matches an ID, whether a document is genuine, or whether a person gets to open a bank account or receive a loan. AI is making decisions that touch people who look nothing alike. A model that performs well in a lab won't automatically perform well in a village in India or on a busy street in Vietnam. Lighting varies, paper stock varies, camera quality varies, and network speed varies. No one sets out to build a biased system. But any AI company that ignores this reality ends up being one.

The pattern is well documented across the industry: when training data doesn't reflect the full diversity of faces, documents, and conditions a system will encounter in the real world, accuracy tends to be uneven, and some legitimate users get rejected more often than others. Closing that gap takes deliberate work. It means sourcing training data that spans demographics, document formats, and markets, and then auditing outcomes across those segments rather than trusting a single aggregate accuracy score.

Device and bandwidth constraints deserve equal attention. A verification flow built for flagship phones and fast broadband excludes huge segments of users in emerging markets. Single-image checks that avoid heavy video processing, and models that run reliably on low-end devices and patchy connections matter as much to fairness as the underlying face-matching algorithm does.

This AI Appreciation Day, it's worth celebrating what AI makes possible while being honest about what it demands. Bias-free AI is an ongoing discipline of testing across geography, document type, age, and network condition, because the moment that testing stops, the system starts failing someone worthy.”

Akshay Chhabra, Chairman & Managing Director of 1Point1 Solutions

"AI is no longer the technology of tomorrow — it is the responsibility of today.

This AI Appreciation Day, I believe the conversation must move beyond celebrating what AI can do, to owning what it should do — especially when deployed at enterprise scale.

Today, AI powers millions of customer interactions across industries, languages and geographies, influencing decisions that shape trust, performance and business outcomes. In this environment, capability alone is no longer the differentiator. Responsible execution is.

The next frontier isn't building more intelligent systems — it's building accountable ones: transparent, explainable and governed with the same discipline and integrity we expect of human judgment. Without that foundation, efficiency becomes risk, not progress.

At 1Point1 Solutions, we believe AI's true value lies not in automating work, but in delivering trusted, measurable outcomes through the right balance of technology, governance and human judgment. AI creates possibilities. Trust converts them into business value."

Ankur Kanaglekar, Vice President – India, Thales

"As we celebrate AI Appreciation Day, it is important to recognise that AI's true potential will not be measured by how quickly it is adopted, but by how much it can be trusted. Whether helping cyber experts respond to increasingly sophisticated attacks, supporting defence operators in mission-critical decisions, assisting air traffic management or protecting critical infrastructure, AI must deliver more than performance: it must be secure, transparent, resilient and remain under meaningful human oversight.

At Thales, we believe the future belongs to AI that empowers people to make faster, better-informed decisions while protecting critical data, systems and operations. This vision is brought to life through cortAIx, Thales' global trusted AI accelerator, which combines advanced AI capabilities with cybersecurity, data protection and human-centric governance to help organisations worldwide deploy AI with confidence across defense, aerospace, cyber and digital identity. With AI embedded in more than 100 products and services and supported by the expertise of over 800 AI specialists, Thales is committed to advancing trusted AI that not only addresses today's challenges but also helps build a more secure, sovereign, and resilient digital future.”

Umesh Shah, Director, Orient Technologies Limited

“AI Appreciation Day is a moment to recognise AI’s potential, acknowledge the responsibility that comes with its adoption, and strengthen the relationship between people and technology. At Orient Technologies, we are bringing these principles to life by combining AI-powered ITSM, automated support processes and robust governance to transform service desks into strategic centres of innovation that deliver faster resolutions, better user experiences and greater business value.”

Sandip Weling, Whole-time Director & Chief Business Officer – Global Retail Business, Aptech Limited

“As Aptech marks 40 years of empowering learners through education and skilling, we believe the future of AI is not about replacing human potential but augmenting it responsibly. As AI reshapes the world of work across technology, business, AVGC-XR, beauty and wellness, hospitality, and the creator economy, Aptech’s priority is to build future-ready talent capable of applying AI with skill, creativity, judgement, and responsibility. A human-first approach will ensure AI becomes a catalyst for innovation, enabling the next generation of creators to lead India's digital and creative economy with confidence."

Dr. Sandeep Karunakaran, Medical Director, Oval Fertility

Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally redefining fertility care by enabling clinicians to make more informed, precise, and evidence-based decisions throughout the IVF journey. I view AI not as a replacement for clinical expertise, but as a sophisticated digital partner that acts as a powerful enabler. Every recommendation generated by technology must always be interpreted through the lens of a patient’s unique medical history, diagnostic findings, and specific treatment goals.

Our clinical process begins with AI-enhanced diagnosis and fertility screening. Advanced computer vision algorithms process semen samples to analyse sperm morphology and motility mechanics with unparalleled consistency. Concurrently, machine learning models integrate anti-Müllerian hormone levels, age, and baseline antral follicle counts to predict ovarian response. During the stimulation phase, AI-assisted ultrasound imaging automatically tracks follicular growth in 3D, recommending real-time medication adjustments. Crucially, AI shifts our focus toward intermediate-sized follicle cohorts to pinpoint the exact hour for the final maturation trigger, maximizing the yield of mature eggs at ovum pick-up while minimizing patient risk.

The journey then transitions into the embryology lab, where AI takes on its most significant role in embryo assessment. By evaluating thousands of subtle developmental parameters through non-invasive time-lapse imaging, the system helps identify the embryos with the highest implantation potential. Furthermore, it supports the detection of underlying chromosomal abnormalities that could impact pregnancy outcomes.

Ultimately, as these technologies continue to evolve, their greatest value lies in supporting specialists with deeper biological insights and improving decision-making consistency. By marrying data-driven precision with human clinical judgment, we enhance our patients' understanding of the process and deliver a more effective, compassionate, and deeply personalised path to building a family.

Tushar Agnihotri, CEO, Route Mobile

"Artificial Intelligence is no longer a technology conversation; it has become a boardroom imperative. Business leaders today are looking beyond experimentation and focusing on how AI can fundamentally improve decision making, customer engagement and long-term competitiveness. The next phase of AI adoption will be defined by organisations that seamlessly embed intelligence into everyday business interactions, enabling faster decisions, more meaningful customer experiences and greater operational agility.

In communications, AI has the potential to transform every interaction into one that is contextual, proactive and personalised, allowing enterprises to build stronger relationships at scale while maintaining trust and authenticity. However, sustainable value will come not from adopting AI for its own sake, but from deploying it responsibly with robust governance, transparency and human oversight.

As AI continues to reshape industries, leadership will be defined by those who can translate technological innovation into measurable business outcomes while keeping customer trust at the centre of every decision. AI Appreciation Day is a reminder that the greatest impact of AI will not be the intelligence of the technology itself, but the intelligence with which organisations choose to apply it."

BG Mahesh, CEO, Sahamati

"AI's true potential will not be measured by how autonomous it becomes, but by how responsibly it can act on behalf of people. As AI evolves from systems that assist humans to agents that can discover information, make decisions and execute workflows autonomously, trust becomes as important as intelligence. Responsible innovation is no longer just about building better AI models. It is about building the trusted infrastructure that enables AI agents to identify themselves, obtain user consent, operate within defined guardrails and remain accountable for every action they take.

At Sahamati Labs, we recently outlined this approach in our framework for AI agents in the Account Aggregator ecosystem, exploring how trusted AI can operate within a consent-based data-sharing architecture. India has already shown the world how Digital Public Infrastructure can enable trusted, population-scale innovation through open and interoperable ecosystems. The next opportunity is to extend these principles to AI, creating trusted digital rails in which identity, consent, governance and interoperability are embedded by design. This is where India can lead again by demonstrating that the future of AI is not just intelligent, but trustworthy, inclusive and built for public good."

Sumeet Agrawal, VP of Product Management, Informatica from Salesforce

"AI Appreciation Day lands at an interesting moment for Indian enterprises. Agentic AI is no longer a slide in a strategy deck here - it's running inside real workflows, making decisions with far less human oversight than the tools that came before it. That changes what "ready" actually means for the organisations deploying it.

Informatica's CDO Insights research found that half of India's data leaders say their organisation has already adopted agentic AI — well above the APAC average of 41%. Yet in the same study, every single data leader said their workforce still needs more training in data or AI literacy to use AI responsibly. Not most. All of them. And when asked what's holding agents back from production, the top answer was security. That tells you something important about where we are. As these systems start acting more autonomously, the cost of getting data trust wrong isn't abstract anymore.

None of this should slow the momentum — it should sharpen it. I've seen this pattern before with big data and cloud: the organisations that scaled successfully weren't always the first movers. They were the ones that built on the right foundations. Governed, trustworthy data isn't the boring part of the AI story. It's what makes the rest of it stick. That's worth appreciating too.”

Vijayant Rai, Managing Director – India, Snowflake

"India’s dynamic digital transformation, deep technology talent, and growing influence on global innovation place it at the forefront of the AI movement. As we celebrate World AI Day (AI Appreciation Day), the next phase of India's AI journey will be shaped by organisations that leverage both open and proprietary models, enabling them to choose the optimal solutions for their business needs. This includes embracing agentic enterprise capabilities, where autonomous, intelligent systems act securely on trusted data through robust control planes, positioning India to accelerate digital progress and drive transformative AI that resonates worldwide. At Snowflake, we understand that true AI readiness can be achieved by empowering people with cutting-edge technology. At the same time, as AI advances, human judgement, domain expertise, and critical thinking become even more essential. This unleashes the full power of human expertise alongside intelligent systems to deliver exceptional results."

Nilesh Bhojani, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Seclore

AI Appreciation Day feels like the right moment to be honest about something the industry has been slow to say out loud: the models have delivered. The governance hasn't.

Most enterprises are running AI across their workflows right now. Some knowingly, some not. And the question that keeps coming up — from boards, from regulators, from CISOs - isn't whether AI is useful. It's whether anyone actually knows what it's doing with sensitive data.

That's the gap worth talking about today. Not to slow AI down, but because closing that gap is what makes it possible to move faster with confidence.

AI can only be as trustworthy as the data practices behind it. That means knowing what sensitive data your AI systems are touching, controlling what leaves your environment, and being able to show your work when someone asks. Not once a year at audit time. Continuously.

That's what we're building at Seclore. And that's what responsible AI adoption looks like in practice - not a policy, not a principle. An Architecture.

Manoj Kapoor, President and CEO, enGen

As we celebrate AI Appreciation Day, we see AI not as a standalone technology initiative, but as a transformational force shaping the future of enGen Global. At enGen Global, becoming AI-first is not just about adopting new technology—it is about transforming how we think, work and innovate. We are scaling AI responsibly across our platforms, processes and teams, while maintaining the governance, transparency and human oversight that are essential in healthcare. We believe the future belongs to organizations that can seamlessly bring together human ingenuity and AI at scale, creating a more intelligent, agile and trusted enterprise.

Sumed Marwaha, Managing Director, AHEAD India

AI is rapidly becoming foundational to how enterprises modernize and deliver business outcomes. Its true value, however, depends not just on the intelligence of the models, but on the infrastructure, governance and engineering that support them.

At AHEAD, we believe AI creates the greatest impact when it is built on a modern technology foundation that helps organizations innovate with confidence, simplify operations and accelerate transformation. On World AI Appreciation Day, we recognize that the future of enterprise AI will be shaped not only by what AI can do, but by how ready organizations are to put it into practice.

Nilesh Aggarwal, CEO IJCP & Founder Medtalks

AI is reshaping healthcare across its entire value chain — from accelerating evidence generation and real-world data analysis to how medical knowledge is discovered, consumed, and applied by clinicians and patients. At IJCP Group, we see this play out across our own businesses: in medical communications and HCP education, in real-world evidence work, and in patient-facing health information. The opportunity is real — faster access to evidence, more personalised learning for healthcare professionals, and more understandable health information for patients. But healthcare is a domain where speed can never come at the cost of accuracy. The real challenge is ensuring AI is trained on credible, evidence-based sources and that every output is guided by clinical oversight and ethical responsibility. We see AI as an enabler that strengthens healthcare learning, evidence generation, and patient education — while keeping doctors and scientific rigour firmly at the centre. As we mark AI Appreciation Day, it is worth recognising AI for expanding access to knowledge, while reaffirming that its greatest value lies in supporting informed human decisions and building greater trust across the healthcare ecosystem.

Anand (Jude) Kannabiran, Vice President, Asia at Delinea

"As we mark National AI Day, it's worth acknowledging that India is one of the most enthusiastic adopters of agentic AI in the world, and honestly, that doesn't surprise me. I see this enthusiasm in nearly every boardroom conversation that happens. But research shows that 63% Indian organizations are also accepting more identity risk to fuel AI adoption than almost any other country. The gap between confidence and governance reality is widest here, and that is precisely where attackers will look to gain a foothold. What customers need to keep in mind is that speed without visibility isn't progress, it's exposure. Successful organisations will treat identity governance as the foundation that makes sustainable innovation possible. That's the shift we need to see in the next twelve months and the early adopters will set the pace for everyone else."

"AI is no longer just an experiment, it has become a part of how businesses run every day. What excites me most is how quickly companies of all sizes in India are using AI to solve real problems: answering customer calls, replying on WhatsApp and helping people in their own language, around the clock. At FonadaLabs, we see this every day. Businesses are moving away from old, rigid systems and using smart voice agents that speak 32+ Indian languages and respond instantly. But AI must be used responsibly. The companies that win will be the ones that use AI to save time and cut costs while keeping customer data safe and building real trust. On AI Appreciation Day, it's worth remembering that AI is not here to replace people. It is here to help them work smarter and focus on what truly matters."- Nitish Gopalani, Co-Founder, FonadaLabs

Subhash Kalluri, Founder, FreJun –

”Voice AI now sits inside some of the most sensitive conversations a business has: a candidate discussing a job change, a patient booking a medical appointment, and a customer disputing a loan repayment. As adoption accelerates, it is worth pausing on what is actually being automated. It is not just a task; it is a moment of trust between a person and an institution, and AI is now a participant in that exchange.

An AI agent that qualifies a lead or screens a candidate is making judgements that affect real outcomes for real people, and that responsibility cannot be an afterthought bolted onto a model. It has to be built into the infrastructure itself: how data is stored, how consent is handled, how calls are recorded and audited, and how a system behaves when it does not know the answer.

For FreJun, this has meant treating compliance and data governance as a design principle rather than a checklist. The goal was never automation for its own sake. It is to give people, recruiters, support agents, and sales teams more time for the parts of their work that genuinely need human judgement by handling the repetitive parts responsibly and transparently. A human-first future is not one where AI does less. It is one where AI is trusted enough to do more, because it was built with people's interests at the centre from the start."