AI Appreciation Day 2026: Trust and infrastructure emerge as the next frontier for AI, say experts

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.

Vishal Sirohi, CEO & Co-Founder, Island Computing

The most significant shift is from experimentation to discipline. Through 2024, enterprises measured AI success by the number of pilots launched. In 2026, MIT research shows only 5% of AI pilots produce measurable P&L impact, and RAND puts the enterprise AI failure rate at 80%. Enterprises are now treating compute, data, and intelligence as three portfolio assets that require unit economics per workload, bounded budgets, sovereign control planes for regulated data, and audit surfaces designed for autonomous agents. The FinOps Foundation's State of FinOps 2026 finds 98% of FinOps teams now manage AI spend, up from 31% two years ago, though only 22% produce per-workload unit economics monthly. Alongside the discipline shift, the dominant AI workload itself is moving from short, stateless model inference to long-running, stateful, tool-calling agentic execution, and the infrastructure built for one does not run the other at production scale. The shift underneath is from AI-as-feature to AI-as-asset. The enterprises that install the safety and cost mechanisms today set the operating baseline for the next decade of production AI.

Chaitali Moitra, Senior Regional Director - South Asia, Turnitin

AI Appreciation Day reminds us that the real value of AI in education isn't its capability, but its application. As these technologies integrate into the learning environment, they should be used to champion originality and deep comprehension. The success of AI must be measured by how effectively it equips students to own their learning and think critically, ensuring technology enhances, rather than replaces, the human mind.

Vasanthi Ramesh, Vice President of Engineering and Site Leader, NetApp India

AI's greatest challenge is no longer intelligence, but trust. As AI becomes embedded in every industry, sovereignty is emerging as a strategic imperative.

At NetApp, we see data as the foundation of every successful AI strategy, and sovereign AI in particular starts with trusted data. Indian organizations need an intelligent data infrastructure that enables them to innovate across clouds, environments, and AI platforms without compromising security, governance, or choice. The challenge is no longer simply deploying AI, but ensuring it can be adopted responsibly, at scale, and on an organization's own terms.

On AI Appreciation Day, it's worth recognizing that the true enabler of sovereign AI is not the model itself, but the trusted data foundation that allows organizations to innovate with confidence and turn AI ambition into real-world impact.

Shivakumar KR, Head of Enterprise Architecture, Data & Integration, Philips

AI Appreciation Day allows us to reflect how artificial intelligence is evolving from an enabling technology into a trusted collaborator in solving complex healthcare challenges. We see the true value of AI in augmenting human expertise, helping clinicians make informed decisions, streamlining workflows, and accelerating innovation that ultimately improves patient outcomes. As AI becomes more deeply embedded in healthcare, it is our responsibility to build AI systems that are not only intelligent but also ethical, explainable, and resilient, ensuring technology continues to earn the trust of healthcare professionals and the patients they serve.

Dr Vikas Khare, Associate Dean, NMIMS Indore’s School of Technology Management & Engineering (STME)

Artificial Intelligence is often boxed as the next technological revolution. In fact, it is the catalyst for redefining how humanity learns, innovates, governs, and thrives. However, the true measure of AI's success will never be its computational power, but the wisdom, ethics, and responsibility with which it is designed and deployed. AI for good means building systems that are transparent, trustworthy, secure, inclusive, and aligned with human values. When intelligence is guided by integrity, AI evolves beyond automation to become a partner in human progress augmenting creativity, enabling evidence-based decision-making, accelerating sustainable development, and empowering societies to solve the world's most complex challenges. Responsible AI is the foundation of a future where technology empowers people while safeguarding trust, equity, and human dignity.

Nitish Gopalani, Co-Founder, FonadaLabs

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.

Venugopal Ganganna, Co-Founder & CIO, LS Digital

AI Appreciation Day is a reminder that the conversation has to move beyond AI awareness and into AI adoption that delivers tangible business outcomes. Most organisations have already settled the question of whether to invest in AI. The real challenge now is how quickly they can integrate it into the decisions, experiences, and operations that drive growth.

We are now entering the era of Agentic AI, where AI evolves from a productivity tool into an active collaborator across the enterprise. AI is orchestrating customer journeys, optimising marketing investments, and supporting faster business decisions, amplifying human expertise at every layer of the enterprise. The organisations that succeed will be those that design workflows where people and AI work together to create better outcomes.

Building an AI-native business starts with the right foundation: high-quality data, connected technology, responsible governance, and teams that know how to work alongside AI. When these capabilities come together, AI becomes a strategic engine for digital business transformation, helping organisations deliver stronger customer experiences, faster innovation, and sustainable growth.

Masaharu Morita, Founder and Program Director, NURA - AI Health Screening Center

Artificial intelligence in healthcare is revolutionizing the industry by improving diagnostic accuracy, enabling early disease detection, managing massive healthcare databases, and supporting robot-assisted surgeries. AI is assisting clinicians in delivering quicker and more informed decision-making. It serves as a powerful force in healthcare, shifting the approach from reactive treatment to proactive, personalized care.

At NURA, AI does not replace doctors, it empowers them. It acts as a powerful assistant that helps our specialists detect minute irregularities that might otherwise be missed during routine health screenings. By helping clinicians interpret complex medical imaging with greater precision, AI supports more accurate and timely diagnoses. The combination of our advanced technology and strong medical expertise is making preventive healthcare more accessible, accurate, and proactive. We are committed to ensuring that advanced diagnostics reach more communities, helping detect diseases at an early stage when treatment outcomes are often better.

As AI continues to advance, our focus remains on enabling clinicians to deliver the best possible care to patients. The growing collaboration between doctors and technology represents the future of healthcare. The true impact of AI in healthcare is measured by the lives it improves. At NURA, we believe every advancement in AI should help clinicians deliver better care and empower individuals to live healthier lives.

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.