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

Hariharashudhan V K, Chief Operating Officer, Neokred Technologies

AI Appreciation Day must prompt Indian fintech to reckon with digital financial fraud. This alone has cost Indian consumers and institutions roughly ₹1.25 lakh crore over the past three years. Fraud moves at machine speed now and only AI matches that speed on defense. That reality must shape how the industry talks about AI.

AI can certainly write great marketing copy but fintech businesses need AI that reads a transaction in milliseconds and decides whether it’s real. Identity verification, KYC onboarding, and fraud monitoring depend on models that process signals like fingerprints, behavioural patterns, transaction velocity and network anomalies because a human analyst would take longer to catch these inconsistencies. When these systems work, they stop fraud before it settles.

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.

Ritesh Kapadia, Field Chief Technology Officer at iLink Digital

The conversation around AI has matured significantly over the past two years. Enterprises are no longer asking whether they should adopt AI; they are asking how to deploy it securely, responsibly, and at scale. As AI moves from experimentation to execution, success will depend less on having the latest models and more on having the right data, cloud, and application foundations to operationalise it. At iLink Digital, we believe AI creates value only when it solves real business problems, improves decision-making, and delivers measurable outcomes. As we mark AI Appreciation Day, it's worth recognising that AI's true potential lies not in the technology itself, but in the tangible impact it creates for businesses and the people they serve.

Diwakar Dayal, Managing Director, India & SAARC, SentinelOne

AI Appreciation Day is a good reminder that artificial intelligence is no longer a future technology - it's becoming part of how businesses operate every day. From improving productivity and decision-making to helping organisations respond to cyber threats faster, AI has enormous potential. At the same time, it's also changing how attackers work. They are using AI to create more convincing phishing campaigns, automate attacks and exploit identities at a scale we've not seen before.

What makes this year's conversation different is the rise of AI agents. As these systems become more capable of making decisions and taking actions on their own, organisations will need to think not just about adopting AI, but also about securing and governing it responsibly. The future isn't about AI replacing people; it's about AI helping people make better decisions while allowing them to focus on higher-value work.

As India accelerates its AI journey, innovation and security have to go hand in hand. The organisations that will get the most value from AI are the ones that build trust into it from day one, making security, governance and transparency a core part of their AI strategy rather than an afterthought.

Dr Narayani Ramachandran, Director, NMIMS Bengaluru Campus

Every technological breakthrough brings with it a greater responsibility to prepare people who can use it wisely. At NMIMS Bengaluru, we see AI as an opportunity to nurture leaders who combine innovation with ethics and human values. AI should help people achieve more, while leaving empathy, judgement, and accountability firmly in human hands. That is how we build technology that earns trust and delivers lasting value to society.

Akash Jain, Chief Innovation Officer, Bhuta Shah & Co.

On AI Appreciation Day, it's worth looking beyond speed. AI's real value in professional services isn't drafting faster, but helping us make better decisions by grounding every insight in verifiable evidence. The story, judgement, and conviction must always come from humans; AI's role is to surface facts, flag uncertainty, and keep every claim accountable to its source. The future of AI isn't replacing expertise, but strengthening it with transparency, trust, and evidence.

Dr Praveen Kumar Loharkar, Faculty- MPSTME, SVKM's NMIMS Shirpur Campus

As we celebrate AI Appreciation Day, we must recognise that the true value of AI lies not in replacing human intelligence, but in enhancing human potential through responsible use. When AI is developed and used with transparency, fairness, inclusivity, and accountability, it becomes a trusted partner in addressing real-world challenges. By keeping human well-being and ethical values at the heart of innovation, we can build technologies that inspire confidence, empower communities, and drive meaningful progress. A human-first approach will ensure that AI remains a powerful force for sustainable and equitable growth.

Vivek Soundarapandian, Director - BI & Visualization, LatentView Analytics

AI has changed the way data democratization is evolving in the analytics space. A typical business intelligence project that would take months can now be completed in weeks. AI is especially upgrading certain workflows by consolidating the intelligence acquired from best practices and years of experience. AI-driven analytics is not just about tech advancements but how it resolves business problems thereby accelerating data-driven insights.

Dr Arun Sharma, Director, NMIMS Navi Mumbai Campus

The real promise of AI lies not merely in automating work, but in redefining what humans should focus on. As AI increasingly performs routine cognitive tasks, organizations and educational institutions must invest even more in developing judgment, adaptability, and the capacity to solve complex problems. The true measure of AI for good will not be the intelligence of machines, but the human capabilities we cultivate and the value they create for society.

Revathi Balasubramaniyan, Data Engineering Manager, LatentView Analytics

AI has fundamentally changed the way I approach problem-solving, cutting down the time spent on repetitive tasks and helping focus more on strategy, innovation, and delivering business impact. Whether it's accelerating data engineering workflows, generating insights faster, or prototyping solutions, AI has become a trusted collaborator rather than just a tool. As we begin working with intelligent systems that proactively recommend actions and automate decision-making, the most valuable skills in this era will be curiosity, critical thinking, and adaptability to work alongside AI responsibly and effectively.