Ideas of India 2025: Manish Gupta Explains the Evolution of AI and Foundation Models

At the Ideas of India Summit 2025, Manish Gupta, Director of Google DeepMind, shared valuable insights into the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the past decade. During his conversation, moderated by author and columnist Chetan Bhagat, Gupta explained how AI has transformed industries worldwide, thanks to the rise of foundation models and generative AI technologies.Gupta discussed the long-standing history of AI, which dates back to the origins of computing, and how the focus of AI research shifted over the years. Initially, AI aimed at replicating human behavior, but its potential expanded with the advent of machine learning and deep learning, which started solving practical problems like image recognition, speech translation, and medical diagnostics.He highlighted the breakthrough innovation in AI with the introduction of foundation models, which utilize the transformer architecture to solve a wide range of problems without needing millions of labeled data points for every task. This advancement allowed AI to progress from specialized tasks to potentially achieving Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – the ability to perform any human task with a single AI model.Gupta also touched on the exciting future of AI, emphasizing how it will continue to enhance human capabilities and bring immense benefits to society. While challenges such as bias and safety remain, Gupta believes AI's potential to improve lives globally is unparalleled.