Does India have all the elements of a globally competitive AI research ecosystem? And, is AI making students smarter—or just lazier? In this episode of the AI Futures podcast, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Professor Mausam, one of the "100 most influential people in AI" and a founding head of the Yardi School of AI at IIT Delhi. Together, they go beyond the hype to explore the true state of the AI revolution.In this video, you’ll discover:- The Shift to SLMs & LRMs: Why 2026 will be the year of Small Language Models and how "Large Reasoning Models" are changing the game.- India’s AI Challenge: Why India produces 16% of the world's AI talent but only ~2% of its research—and how we can close the gap.- The "Death of the Grind": Professor Mausam shares his deep concern about students using LLMs to skip the "grunt work" essential for building deep expertise.- Global Power Dynamics: Why the US and China still lead, and what we can learn from Israel’s highly successful research ecosystem.- Future-Proofing Your Career: Why "analytical thinking" and "first-principle thinking" are the only skills that will never be automated.Whether you are a student, a researcher, or just curious about the future of technology, this deep dive provides a masterclass on navigating the age of artificial intelligence.---Follow the India AI Impact Summit 2026: https://impact.indiaai.gov.in/*About Prof. Mausam*Mausam is a Professor of Computer Science at IIT Delhi, and served as the founding head of Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence until September 2023. He is also an affiliate professor at University of Washington, Seattle. Recently, his research is exploring neuro-symbolic machine learning, computer vision for radiology, NLP for robotics, multilingual NLP, and several threads in intelligent information systems that include information extraction, knowledge base completion, question answering, and dialogue systems. He has over 100 archival papers to his credit, along with a book, two best paper awards, and one test of time award. Mausam was awarded the AAAI Fellow status in 2024 for his sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence and unusual distinction in the profession. He was also elected as a fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) -- an apex body for India's most distinguished engineers, engineer-scientists and technologists. He was named as one of the 30 Indian Minds Leading the AI Revolution by Forbes India. *About Anirudh Suri, Host of the Podcast*Anirudh Suri is a non-resident scholar with Carnegie India, where his research and writing focus on technology, artificial intelligence and geopolitics. He is the author of The Great Tech Game: Shaping Geopolitics and the Destinies of Nations, and host of The Great Tech Game Podcast. He is also the Managing Partner at India Internet Fund, a US and India based technology-focused venture capital fund. Previously, Anirudh has worked with the Government of India in New Delhi, McKinsey and Co in New York, Goldman Sachs in London, the Carnegie Endowment in Washington DC, and China Institute of International Studies in Beijing. He completed his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and his MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. The Great Tech Game by Anirudh Suri - https://amzn.eu/d/1Su38My Follow Anirudh here:X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/anirudhsuriLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirudhsuri/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anirudh_suriFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnirudhSuri.inWebsite: (http://www.anirudhsuri.com/) Book and Podcast: (http://www.greattechgame.com/)#IndiaAI #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026 #AIFuturesPodcast #AISummit #TGTGPodcast #AnirudhSuri #AI #TheGreatTechGame #VilasDhar #patrickjmcgovernfoundation #aiforgood #philanthropy #responsibleai #climatetrace #globalsouth #globalsouthai