AI Appreciation Day 2025: Celebrating Innovation, Collaboration and Responsible Tech
At The Hans India, we take this moment to appreciate the evolving role of AI in India's digital ecosystem. We are bringing together diverse voices from leading AI experts, developers, and thought leaders who are shaping the future of responsible AI. Their insights remind us that while machines may process data, it's human intent that gives technology its true purpose. Join us in acknowledging the innovators, experts, researchers, and policymakers who continue to ensure that AI remains a force for good in our rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Deepak Kinger
Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer
EvoluteIQ
AI's rapid advancement presents a great opportunity but comes with equal responsibility. From autonomous systems in healthcare to predictive analytics in finance and policy, we are entrusting machines with end-to-end decisions. The real challenge is not whether AI can outperform humans, it is whether it can align with our values. Responsible AI must be inclusive, interpretable, and most importantly, auditable. The future belongs to those who balance innovation with integrity, to progress with purpose.
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Ronik Patel
Founder and CEO
Weam.AI
AI has rapidly changed the way we work, innovate, reason, and engage with entertainment. We face a choice about how to use this power. This is where the technology must match what humans value most. AI should make our moral reasoning stronger. It must preserve our ability to make our own choices. I believe the goal is not smarter machines but a future where technology lifts up human potential. We are building this technology and our industries around it. It should be us to decide how it shapes our lives. The path forward requires us to stay true to what makes us human while embracing what makes us better.
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Aravind Putrevu
Director of Developer Marketing
Coderabbit
AI is somewhat a brand new industrial revolution, which is transforming the manner in which we utilize the internet and arrange our work. It enhances productivity to give us time to spend with our family and engage in productive activities other than normal activities. This is the way AI occupies the future of science.
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Zabi Ulla
Vice President – Generative AI Practice
C5i
As AI continues to shape our world, the principles of Responsible AI will become increasingly important. Both individuals and enterprises must actively participate in the conversation and contribute to the development of AI that is not only innovative but also ethical and responsible. By doing so, we can harness the power of AI to benefit society while safeguarding against its potential risks. The journey towards Responsible AI is a collective one, and it is through shared commitment and action that we can ensure a future where technology works for the good of all.
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Kinnari Thakker
Co-founder & CXO
MyFi
AI represents a transformative shift from mere access to true empowerment. At MyFi we have seen how AI creates a safe and welcoming space where first-time earners feel confident to ask silly questions, explore their portfolios and make informed decisions. By simplifying jargon and offering guidance without judgment it helps users focus on what matters to them. Its strength lies in nurturing confidence and clarity at every step. Today we celebrate an intelligence that meets people where they are, aligns with their interest and helps them take action with purpose.
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Kiran Nambiar
Partner
Tifin India
At TIFIN India we see AI as a force that can unlock collective progress. When thoughtfully applied it brings clarity to complexity and transforms data into decisions that serve not just individuals but communities. It helps scale empathy and aligns intent with impact. As we build for a more financially smart society, AI enables us to move with purpose and precision. So let's celebrate its potential to drive meaningful and measurable change across society.'
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Madhav Krishna
Founder & CEO
Vahan.ai
At Vahan.ai, we believe AI should remove barriers, not reinforce them. As India's largest recruitment platform for blue-collar workers, our vision is to democratise job access through intelligent, inclusive technology. By enabling job discovery through a simple phone call without apps or internet, we're using AI to employ over 40,000 people every month and make growth opportunities truly accessible. We're now building advanced AI capabilities to support regional languages, enabling deeper access across Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. For us, AI means Accessibility and Inclusivity in action.
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Sridhar Mantha
CEO of Generative AI Business Services (GBS)
Happiest Minds Technologies
AI is at the core of Happiest Minds' digital transformation strategy. We are enabling scalable, secure, and responsible AI solutions through our Analytics & AI Center of Excellence and Gen-AI Business Services unit. Our innovations include repeatable solutions such as the Research and Legal Companion, AI & Gen-AI solutions, and enterprise-wide intelligent automation. Our unique method uses deep domain-specific AI solutions, utilizing Generative AI in SDLC, ethical leadership, and strategic integrations to implement solutions faster and with measurable results. We add value to businesses by using a structured framework to get several AI & Gen-AI projects into production while following best practices in MLOps & LLMOps with secure guardrails. And while we're at it, we also provide innovative solutions in emerging AI fields like Bioinformatics.
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Khadim Batti
Co-founder and CEO
Whatfix
This AI Appreciation Day, we celebrate India's bold strides in making AI inclusive and impactful through missions like IndiaAI and Bhashini. At Whatfix, we believe AI's true power lies in making technology work for people—across languages, roles, and systems. Our AI engine, ScreenSense, interprets user behavior in real time to deliver proactive, adaptive guidance—without the complexity of deep integrations. It's how we're transforming on-boarding, accelerating adoption, and driving real outcomes. As the world shifts to intuitive, user-led digital experiences, we're proud to help shape an AI future that's not just smart—but human-centered.'
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Rakesh Agarwal
Founder & Executive Chairman
GenXAI
With every line of code and algorithm, we're not just building technology—we're architecting a future where AI's greatest achievement isn't surpassing human intelligence, but making powerful tools accessible to everyone, moving from an era where technology belonged to the few to one where AI capabilities can be in the hands of anyone with curiosity and creativity.
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Keith Odom
Senior Vice President- Managed Services, India Operations
AHEAD
AI is fast becoming the operating layer for how modern IT infrastructure is monitored, managed, and optimized. With the scale, speed, and complexity of today's enterprise environments, manual intervention is no longer sustainable or effective. AI-driven operations are now essential to anticipate incidents, accelerate response times, and enhance resilience.
But the true value of AI lies in its ability to enable continuous improvement without compromising control. Intelligent systems must be explainable, interoperable, and aligned with business priorities - whether it's detecting performance gaps before they become service failures, optimizing resource usage in real time, or ensuring compliance without added overhead.
At AHEAD, we've seen how AI Ops, when purpose-built for hybrid environments, becomes the connective tissue that helps enterprises operate with both scale and stability. This is no longer a future vision - it's the new baseline for enterprise readiness.
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Ashish Tandon
Founder and CEO
Indusface
AI has become essential in modern cybersecurity, not because it replaces human decision-making, but because it enables faster, more precise action in an environment defined by scale and unpredictability. As attack patterns grow more distributed and sophisticated, intelligence must evolve from reactive to anticipatory. This is especially urgent in areas like API security, where attacks have now surpassed those on traditional websites. In our recent analysis of over 7 billion attacks, APIs saw 30% more intrusion attempts, and bot attacks surged by 48%.
The future of security lies in systems that can filter noise, detect intent, and enable real-time decisions with confidence. But intelligence without verification can be risky. That's why AI needs to be paired with people who understand the application, the risk, and the response path. At Indusface, we combine AI-powered threat detection with human-led tuning and response. The goal is not just automation, but trusted outcomes. That's what gives our customers clarity under pressure and confidence when it matters most.
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Hemant Agrawal
Chief Operating Officer
Netweb Technologies.
On AI Appreciation Day, we recognize the strategic importance of the infrastructure driving intelligent innovation. From high-performance computing and GPU-accelerated systems to secure private clouds, these platforms enable transformative breakthroughs - from precision medicine to predictive finance and autonomous manufacturing. Modern AI infrastructure, built on sovereign, scalable, and energy-efficient architecture, ensures agility, security, and faster decision-making. As AI becomes integral to national competitiveness and growth, the focus must shift beyond algorithms to the digital foundation beneath them. True innovation is not just coded - it's architected. The future belongs to those who build intelligence into the core of their infrastructure.
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Prakash Kumar
Chief Executive Officer, Government Digital Transformation
Wadhwani Foundation
New and emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, are transforming lives globally. To fully realize the benefits of AI, policymakers must develop a strategic understanding of its capabilities. The democratization of AI requires government officials to be AI-fluent, enabling informed decisions on technology integration and inclusive governance. At the Wadhwani Centre for Government Digital Transformation, we are working closely with central and state governments to build AI roadmaps and upskill senior officers across key ministries.
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Karan Kirpalani
Chief Product Office
Neysa
Much of the global AI conversation still revolves around model innovation. But in India, the focus is shifting to something more foundational , how we build and deploy AI systems at scale, within real-world constraints.At Neysa, we are working with enterprises that are dealing with fragmented data, multilingual user bases, evolving compliance needs, and limited infrastructure budgets. Despite that, they are moving from pilots to production-grade deployments in a matter of months.That kind of progress is no longer limited to large tech companies. It's happening across sectors, and it's shaping a version of AI that's more inclusive, grounded, and scalable both for India and the rest of the world.
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Dr. Adnan Masood,
Chief Architect - AI and Machine Learning
UST
AI Appreciation Day celebrates unleashing human potential at scale. Generative AI has democratized creation; agentic AI is democratizing execution. Ethical AI co-pilots amplify, not replace, human ingenuity. The most productive companies aren't just using AI tools; they're embedding human-AI symbiosis into their DNA. AI doesn't just accelerate technology, but accelerates human potential. The future belongs to humans with AI, not AI with humans. It's not about ethics boards preventing harm, but systems that make human judgment faster, sharper, and impactful.
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Fabio Fratucello
Field CTO World Wide
CrowdStrike
AI is transforming organisations' ability to detect and respond to cyber threats. Under immense pressure from rising alert volumes, faster breakout times and a persistent shortage of skilled analysts, security teams must leverage AI to protect their organisations and move from reactive response to proactive threat disruption. Automating time-consuming and repetitive tasks, agentic AI can be a force multiplier for security teams by enabling them to focus on understanding adversary behaviour, hunting advanced threats and stopping breaches before they escalate.
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Nick Magnuson
Head of AI
Qlik
At Qlik, we believe that AI's promise in India lies not just in innovation, but in impact. As agentic AI takes root across key sectors like public services, healthcare and financial inclusion, we're seeing real transformation, not just headlines. These AI systems are helping reduce response times, improve access, lower costs, and enable smarter decision-making at scale. But the foundation for this success is clear: quality data, trust, governance and purpose. India's forward-thinking approach to digital infrastructure and data diversity offers a strong base for agentic AI to thrive. While AI Appreciation Day may be peculiar to some, we'd like to celebrate how India is evolving into a trusted steward for AI, helping leaders across the country drive progress, with people at the center.
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Sooraj Balakrishnan
Associate Director & Head of Marketing
Acer India
AI Appreciation Day serves as a reminder that artificial intelligence is no longer a frontier technology; it is now embedded across sectors, shaping how we learn, work, heal, and solve problems. From climate modelling and personalized learning to supply chain intelligence and healthcare diagnostics, AI is driving real impact. At Acer, we believe its value lies in amplifying human potential. In a diverse and fast-moving country like India, that potential must be inclusive, ethical, and responsive to real-world needs. This is why our AI PCs are designed to be accessible, adaptive, and relevant — empowering students, entrepreneurs, and professionals to solve, create, and lead effectively in their respective contexts. As India moves toward a digital-first future, we remain focused on delivering intelligent technology with purpose.
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Dario Schiraldi
Former Managing Director
Deutsche Bank
AI is transforming the core of banking and investment by accelerating data-driven decisions, enabling hyper-personalized financial services, and unlocking new avenues in funding innovation. It's true power lies not just in automation, but in amplifying human insight—reshaping the future of finance with intelligence, trust, and efficiency.
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