Latest news with #LeslieJoseph
Economic Times
20-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
ET Explainer: What OpenAI's local data residency means for India
OpenAI has enabled local data residency in India and other Asian countries to attract organisations needing data localisation. This allows storage of data at rest within India, but model processing still occurs on foreign servers. ET explains what this means for Indian businesses and whether data sovereignty is on the horizon. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads ChatGPT-maker OpenAI earlier this month enabled local data residency in key Asian countries including India—its second largest market—and Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. This was in a bid to help organisations who want to leverage its ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu, and the OpenAI API (application programming interface) offerings, but also have data localisation requirements. ET explains what this move means for Indian businesses and whether data sovereignty is on the feature allows 'data at rest' such as prompts, uploaded files, and chat interactions to be stored within India. But, models still reside in foreign servers and processing enterprise information at inference time (run-time) will need exchange outside India localisation has until now prevented OpenAI from gaining market share in India as BFSI customers opted to host open models like Meta's Llama and DeepSeek to Aadya Misra, Partner at Spice Route Legal, 'OpenAI's residency option could allow financial institutions to deploy AI for use cases like payment processing while remaining compliant with existing requirements that require payment data to be stored locally.'She explained that the Reserve Bank of India does permit transient cross-border processing under certain conditions, 'so if implemented thoughtfully, concerns about data in motion could also be addressed. This move could shift reliance on self-hosted open-source models to enterprise-grade and centrally managed AI solutions.'The move may at best be seen as a first step towards compliance-enablement that could help companies to bolster contracts with responsible data handling clauses. It has fallen short of complete data sovereignty, however, experts said.'The architecture stores data 'at rest' locally, but not necessarily 'in transit' or during model inference. That data may still leave the country, exposing enterprises to regulatory scrutiny,' said Leslie Joseph, principal analyst at noted that OpenAI has not announced local hosting of its GPT models or inference engines in India. 'There's no evidence of compute or model weights residing in-country. This is partial localisation at best, not sovereign AI,' Joseph explained that although OpenAI has added AES-256 level encryption for data at rest and TLS 1.2+ for data in transit, without full model localisation, including inference compute, enterprises handling PII (personally identifiable information) will continue to face regulatory and data exposure concerns.'...There is no explicit indication that the underlying GPT models, including their inference engines, tokens, or trained weights, will themselves be hosted in India,' said Ankit Sahni, Partner at Ajay Sahni & remains that OpenAI may eventually bring full-stack model hosting to India, given its enterprise ambitions and steady competition from cost-effective open-weight models. For now, experts say companies must treat this as a 'compliance-forward gesture.'It could also mean opportunities for Indian data centre the company is likely to host local storage within its long-time exclusive partner Microsoft's data centres, sources told ET that OpenAI is hearing proposals from other colocation data centres in India as well.'Given OpenAI's shift to a for-profit structure and changing dynamics with Microsoft, we are actively seizing this opportunity to commit to a long-term relationship with them,' the senior executive at a leading data centre company told Roy contributed to this story.
Techday NZ
07-05-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Forrester names AI, agentic systems & robotics top for 2025
Forrester has identified the top 10 emerging technologies for 2025, highlighting that artificial intelligence is shifting from experimentation to a fundamental business requirement. The research reveals that AI is progressing from generative models to agentic AI, systems capable of independent decision-making, and underlines the increasing relevance of synthetic data and humanoid robots. According to Forrester's latest report, Asian Pacific enterprises are largely aligned with global technology trends but are also shaped by unique regional conditions, including data sovereignty laws, significant government involvement, and a preference for longer-term returns on investment. Frederic Giron, Vice President and Senior Research Director at Forrester, commented, "Asia Pacific enterprises broadly align with global emerging tech trends but distinct regional preferences are shaping how these technologies are adopted. Enterprises are prioritizing localized AI models to navigate linguistic and regulatory diversity, leveraging hybrid cloud and edge architectures for data sovereignty, and adopting synthetic data as a privacy-native AI enabler. There is strong government orchestration, particularly in mature markets, which is helping drive AI adoption in the region. Additionally, enterprises tend to have longer ROI horizons compared to North America, reflecting strategic patience over quick wins." He added, "GenAI for language is gaining traction in customer service, compliance, and multilingual support, while GenAI for visual content is advancing marketing, design, and manufacturing. The rise of IoT security is being accelerated by government-led cybersecurity initiatives, as enterprises embed AI into threat detection strategies. Meanwhile, agentic AI is emerging in early applications such as IT operations and financial automation, and humanoid robotics is drawing pragmatic interest in eldercare, hospitality, and public services, though still in its experimental phases." Principal Analyst Leslie Joseph provided further insight into adoption patterns across Asia Pacific, noting, "Financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing are leading adoption of agentic AI and synthetic data in APAC. Demand is driven by a mix of regulatory compliance, productivity gains, and innovation mandates. In Singapore, for example, banks use agents for compliance and automation; healthcare players use synthetic data to sidestep privacy constraints; and manufacturers deploy agents for predictive operations and digital twins." Joseph continued, "Regional firms balance near-term ROI and long-term innovation through public-private R&D programs and regulatory sandboxes. Regional leaders face fragmented digital maturity, but national AI agendas and talent constraints are pushing enterprises to explore (and in some cases, begin the push for adoption of) agentic systems for strategic differentiation. Government-backed initiatives like AI Verify provide safe experimentation zones, while rising regional competition is accelerating enterprise willingness to modernize." The Forrester research categorises the top emerging technologies by projected benefits over short-term, mid-term, and long-term horizons to help enterprises and business leaders focus their investments. Short-term technologies expected to provide substantial advantages within two years include IoT security and synthetic data. IoT security has become particularly important as cyber threats increase, with businesses possessing high levels of technology integration expected to benefit most. Synthetic data is highlighted for its role in improving AI model training and enhancing trust and privacy, especially pertinent to industries such as financial services, insurance, healthcare, and the public sector. Regulatory authorities are reported to encourage the use of synthetic data to help reduce risk. In the mid-term, over two to five years, agentic AI and generative AI for visual content are expected to bring significant productivity and personalisation gains. Agentic AI, while still requiring improvements in accuracy and coordination, offers the potential for systems that can autonomously drive business process automation. Generative AI for visual content is anticipated to transform the production of photorealistic images, videos, and graphics, with the most impact likely in marketing, advertising, retail, and e-commerce. For the longer term, expected to take at least five years to deliver enterprise value, humanoid robots make their first appearance on the emerging technologies list. Forrester's report states that advances in generative AI and decreasing component costs are making such robots more feasible. However, challenges around research and development expenses and integration complexities remain significant barriers to widespread adoption. Sharyn Leaver, Chief Research Officer at Forrester, stated, "As AI becomes ubiquitous, business and technology leaders should prioritize investments that will deliver the greatest impact for their organizations in terms of driving business growth, innovation, and competitive advantage. Despite global uncertainty, AI's rapid acceleration will continue. Enterprises that strategically balance AI innovation with risk mitigation will be ones that successfully thrive and achieve sustainable growth." The report concludes that as the technological landscape continues to evolve, enterprises are increasingly required to adopt AI advancements rapidly, with strategic investment decisions becoming central to navigating continued geopolitical volatility and achieving long-term growth.
