The control of Artificial Intelligence-driven narratives represents the new frontier of digital colonisation. While AI has the potential to empower society, it is increasingly being used as a tool to control and suppress diverse voices. The fight against AI monopolies is a fight for free expression, democracy and cultural preservation. The fight between OpenAI and DeepSeek show the importance of AI in the narrative war. The question remains: If AI determines what we see, who truly owns our thoughts?
Algorithmic Gatekeepers
In the labyrinth of digital ecosystems, AI has evolved beyond its original purpose as a passive tool. Today, AI is the unseen architect of the information we consume, shaping narratives, influencing perceptions, and altering decision-making processes. Whether embedded in search engines, social media feeds, or automated policy enforcement, AI acts as an omnipresent mediator between human curiosity and digital reality. But beneath its efficiency lies an unsettling question—who really owns the data that AI processes, and who controls the narratives it disseminates?
Collaboration Is the Key
The unchecked rise of AI-driven narrative control has turned data into a battleground for influence, suppression, and power. If left unchallenged, AI could become the definitive arbiter of truth, shaping history, culture, and governance in ways that serve only those who control its programming. The future of AI should not be one of domination but of collaboration, ensuring that the technology designed to serve humanity does not become its master.
The digital age has introduced a new form of power struggle, where algorithms, datasets and computational influence determine the flow of information. AI, once a neutral tool, has evolved into a gatekeeper controlled by tech giants, governments, and corporate conglomerates, shaping digital discourse through content prioritisation, censorship, and embedded biases. Instead of democratising access to knowledge, AI has centralised power, influencing historical records and public narratives.
What is DeepSeek?
DeepSeek is a Chinese AI company founded by Liang Wenfang, co-founder of a successful quantitative hedge fund company that uses AI to inform its investment decisions. In 2023, Liang started DeepSeek as a side project to pursue artificial general intelligence, but this is more than the lark of an eccentric millionaire.
DeepSeek is the name of a free AI-powered chatbot, which looks, feels and works very much like ChatGPT. It is developed by China to minimise the impact of US in AI field.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a form of generative AI — a tool that lets users enter prompts to receive humanlike images, text or videos that are created by AI.
ChatGPT is similar to the automated chat services found on customer service websites, as people can ask it questions or request clarification to ChatGPT’s replies. The GPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer,” which refers to how ChatGPT processes requests and formulates responses. ChatGPT is trained with reinforcement learning through human feedback and reward models that rank the best responses. This feedback helps augment ChatGPT with machine learning to improve future responses.
This control has profound global consequences, affecting politics, culture, economics, and personal freedoms. AI-driven political engineering manipulates electoral outcomes through targeted propaganda, while cultural hegemony marginalises non-Western identities, reinforcing a digital monoculture. Economic dependency on foreign AI infrastructures deepens technological inequalities, and AI-powered surveillance threatens privacy by enabling mass monitoring and predictive policing.
A Call for Digital Sovereignty
For a diverse country like Bharat, developing its own AI tools, Large Language Models (LLMs), Contextual Reasoning Models (CRMs), Large Language Services (LLS) is critical to ensuring digital sovereignty and cultural representation. Relying on foreign-built AI risks reinforcing biases that do not align with Bharat’s diverse linguistic, cultural, and socio-political realities.
By fostering indigenous AI innovation, Bharat can reduce dependency, protect sensitive data, and ensure that its narratives are not shaped by external interests. Global cooperation, policy-driven intervention, and ethical AI governance are essential to prevent AI from becoming an instrument of unchecked power.
Bharat’s vast linguistic and cultural diversity is at risk of being erased in an AI ecosystem dominated by Western perspectives. Most AI tools are trained on datasets that primarily feature English and Western-centric viewpoints, leading to the exclusion of regional dialects, historical contexts, and indigenous knowledge systems. If Bharat does not invest in developing AI models trained on its own data, it risks allowing foreign AI systems to shape its digital discourse, creating misinterpretations and eroding local identities.
The dominance of Western AI companies also has economic implications. Dependence on external AI infrastructure means that Bharat will always be at the mercy of foreign regulations, pricing models, and technological limitations.
Dependence on external AI infrastructure means that Bharat will always be at the mercy of foreign regulations, pricing models, and technological limitations. This digital dependence mirrors historical patterns of economic colonisation, where resources and knowledge are controlled by a few powerful entities. Bharat must recognise the urgency of investing in homegrown AI research, creating robust datasets that represent its diverse population, and formulating policies that ensure fair and ethical AI usage.
Bharat has the talent and resources to develop its own AI tools, but this requires a concerted effort from the government, private sector, and academia. Some key steps include:
● Developing Indigenous Large Language Models (LLMs): Bharat must create its own LLMs trained on diverse datasets that include multiple Bharatiya languages, dialects, and cultural contexts. This will ensure that AI systems understand and represent Bharatiya perspectives accurately.
● Developing Contextual Reasoning Models (CRMs): In addition to LLMs, Bharat should focus on CRMs that are efficient, cost-effective, and optimised for regional languages and applications. These models can democratise AI access for smaller enterprises
and local users.
● Building Large Language Services (LLS): AI development should include comprehensive language services that support translation, transcription, and sentiment analysis across Bharat’s many languages. Such services can enhance accessibility and digital inclusion.
● Data Sovereignty and Infrastructure: Building AI requires vast amounts of data. Bharat should invest in national data centers, ensuring that critical information remains within the country and is not subjected to foreign influence or exploitation.
● Ethical AI Governance: A robust regulatory framework is needed to ensure that AI is developed and deployed responsibly. AI ethics committees should be established to oversee fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI-driven decision-making processes.
● Public-Private Collaboration: Bharat’s tech industry, startups, and academic institutions must work together to advance AI research and innovation. Public-private partnerships can accelerate the development of indigenous AI solutions tailored to Bharat’s needs.
● Encouraging Open-Source AI Development: Open-source AI initiatives can promote transparency, collaboration, and innovation. By supporting open AI projects, Bharat can foster an ecosystem that allows startups, researchers, and developers to contribute to AI advancements without being locked into proprietary systems.
● AI Skilling and Workforce Development: Bharat must invest in AI education and skill-building programmes to create a workforce capable of leading AI research and deployment. This includes AI-focused curricula in universities, specialised training programmes, and funding for AI-driven startups.
● Localised AI Applications: AI should be leveraged to address Bharat’s unique challenges, such as improving healthcare access in rural areas, enhancing agricultural productivity, optimising governance, and advancing financial inclusion. Building AI solutions tailored to Bharat’s socio-economic conditions will ensure long-term benefits.
Let me introduce Anuvadini AI, an advanced, flagship “Make in Bharat” AICTE, Ministry of Education, Government of Bharat initiative that covers a wide array of services using its own large language model, custom domain specific contextual reasoning model, and large-scale language services. It supports 22 Bharatiya languages and 37 international languages, empowering businesses and organisations to overcome linguistic barriers. Our tool has successfully translated over 40 crore pages, created 5,000+ books, assisted in over 10 lakh blogs and reports, and translated 1,340 hours of video content for Central and State Governments, as well as private entities.
Spreading misinformation
DeepSeek shares information on the issues according to the interests of China. Here is an example of how DeepSeek has tried to manipulate the facts according to the Chinese interest
What it says on Tiananmen Square?
DeepSeek does not respond to any questions about the history or happenings within Tiananmen Square.
However, when asked about the significance of Tiananmen Square to the Chinese people, it describes the square as a “testament to the country’s development and progress under the leadership of the Community
Party of China.” The 1989 crackdown on student pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square has stained China’s human rights record and presented the regime with a serious challenge as it has attempted to omit the event from Chinese public consciousness.
On China’s treatment of Uyghur
DeepSeek says the Uyghurs “enjoy full rights to development, freedom of religious belief, and cultural heritage.” When asked about Western perspectives on the Uyghur issue, DeepSeek suggests users visit China to learn the truth. China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims, an ethnic minority located in China’s westernmost Xinjiang province, has been labeled a “genocide” by many Western analysts.
Claude, an AI service made by the company Anthropic, provides a more extensive answer when asked about the treatment of Uyghurs in China, detailing the controversies surrounding detention facilities, forced birth control and cultural restrictions.
Who controls Taiwan?
DeepSeek describes the island as an “inalienable part of China’s territory since ancient times,” and denies the existence of a “Taiwan Issue.” Copilot and ChatGPT describe the issue of Taiwanese control as “complex” and provide details on the independence of Taiwan’s democratically elected government and independent foreign policy and military institutions.
Bharat’s Anuvadini AI, developed upder AICTE offers a suite of features such as Text-to-Text, Document-to-Document, Text-to-Speech, Speech-to-Text, Scanned OCR to Text, and a virtual multilingual keyboard. With the integration of sector experts and validators, Anuvadini AI ensures high-quality, context-aware translations. The AI revolution is not just about technology—it is about control, power, and influence over global narratives. Nations that fail to develop their own AI capabilities risk becoming passive consumers rather than active shapers of the future. The West’s dominance in AI development has already led to ethical concerns, including biased algorithms, privacy breaches, and monopolistic control over data. If Bharat does not assert itself in the AI domain, it risks losing control over its digital sovereignty, cultural representation, and economic competitiveness.
Other nations, including China and Russia, have recognised the strategic importance of AI and are aggressively developing their own AI ecosystems. Bharat must follow suit, not just to compete but to protect its national interests. The AI-driven world of tomorrow should be one where Bharat’s voices, perspectives, and innovations are fully represented.
Reclaiming Digital Narrative
The time to reclaim control over our data and digital identities is now. By fostering ethical AI development, enforcing data sovereignty and ensuring transparency, we can prevent AI from becoming the ultimate gatekeeper of truth. Bharat has the capability to lead the AI revolution in a way that aligns with its democratic values, linguistic diversity, and cultural heritage. The question is not just about who owns AI, but about who owns the future of digital narratives.
Bharat must take charge of its AI destiny, or risk being a passive participant in a world where algorithms dictate history, culture, and truth.
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