The rush to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) is getting bigger by the day. Billions of dollars are flowing into data centres and large language models, but a key question is quietly growing louder: when will investors start seeing real returns?
That question took centre stage at the India Today AI Summit 2026, where global technology leaders discussed whether today’s AI excitement is a bubble or the beginning of a long productivity boom.
INVESTORS WANT RETURNS, NOT JUST PROMISES
MR Rangaswami, founder of Indiaspora, said that the scale of current investment demands serious financial results.
He said that nearly $1 trillion is expected to be invested in data centres. For investors to recover that money, the companies involved would eventually need to generate revenues at a similar scale. Today, combined revenues from hyperscalers and AI start-ups are still far below that level.
Rangaswami said there is clear excitement around AI, but patience will be tested. In his view, investors are willing to support long-term growth, but they also want clearer and more refined return-on-investment goals that bring the future a little closer. He compared the moment to the dot-com era, which created massive value despite early volatility.
He also stressed that most AI infrastructure spending is coming from private investors and sovereign funds rather than governments. If projects fail, the losses will largely sit with private capital, not taxpayers.
A NEW AGE OF PRODUCTIVITY
Not everyone sees the current spending as a bubble. Jonathan Siddharth, founder and CEO of Turing, argued that AI has already moved beyond experiments.
According to him, this year marks a shift from AI systems passing tests to actually doing real work. He described digital knowledge work, i.e., tasks people perform on computers across industries, as a market worth tens of trillions of dollars.
Siddharth said advanced AI agents are beginning to handle complex tasks that once required days of human effort. Instead of replacing workers outright, many roles are evolving. Humans are increasingly supervising and verifying AI output rather than doing every task manually.
He called this moment the beginning of a “golden age of productivity”, where abundant digital intelligence could accelerate innovation in healthcare, science and industry.
POLICY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SOCIAL IMPACT
Aneesh Chopra, chief strategy officer at Arcadia, added a policy perspective. He compared today’s AI investments to the early days of digital infrastructure, when heavy spending initially looked risky but later powered economic growth.
Chopra said entrepreneurs play a crucial role when industries change. However, governments also need to create clear rules that define how humans and automated systems work together. In sectors such as healthcare, updated policies could unlock major AI-driven improvements by focusing on outcomes rather than paperwork.
He also urged a broader view of returns. Beyond financial gains, AI investments should be judged by their social impact, i.e., better education, wider access to healthcare and improved public services.
INDIA’S OPPORTUNITY AND THE ROAD AHEAD
Siddharth said that India should invest in “sovereign AI,” i.e., domestic models trained on local data, to improve governance and protect national interests. He also warned of major shifts in jobs and education, saying workers must be trained to adapt to AI-assisted roles.
Chopra, meanwhile, encouraged India to “leapfrog” by using AI to build new solutions in healthcare and skills development that could later scale globally.
Siddharth concluded by saying that now is the time to focus on superintelligence to drive real economic progress. He noted that while last year AI was largely focused on passing tests and winning academic benchmarks, it is now capable of performing real-world tasks. He encouraged people to study computer science and learn how to build applications on top of large language models, adding that the future looks promising.
