16 - 07 - 2026

As AI Becomes Ubiquitous, the New Battleground Is Trust

Artificial intelligence has largely won the argument over whether businesses should use it. The more pressing question now is whether companies can deploy it in ways that are secure, transparent and accountable.

That was the dominant message from technology and healthcare executives marking AI Appreciation Day, who argued that the conversation around AI has shifted from adoption to governance. As AI systems become deeply embedded in corporate workflows, they said, the technology’s future will depend less on the sophistication of its models than on how responsibly organisations manage the data and decisions those models influence.

“AI models have delivered. The governance hasn’t,” said Nilesh Bhojani, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Seclore. With AI increasingly handling sensitive enterprise information, he said, organisations must be able to identify what data their systems access, control what leaves their environment and continuously demonstrate compliance to regulators and customers.

The emphasis on trust reflects a broader change in enterprise priorities. Just a few years ago, companies were racing to experiment with generative AI. Today, many are looking beyond pilot projects, asking how AI can deliver measurable business value without exposing organisations to regulatory, security or reputational risks.

AI effectiveness

That concern is especially pronounced in healthcare, where AI is rapidly transforming medical education, research and access to clinical information. Nilesh Aggarwal, CEO of IJCP and Founder of Medtalks, said the technology offers unprecedented opportunities to accelerate evidence generation and improve access to medical knowledge, but warned that speed cannot come at the expense of scientific accuracy. He said AI must remain grounded in credible evidence and operate under clinical oversight.

For Manoj Kapoor, President and CEO of enGen, becoming AI-first is as much an organisational transformation as a technological one. He said companies must redesign the way they work while ensuring governance, transparency and human oversight remain integral to AI deployment.

Executives also argued that AI’s effectiveness depends on the systems surrounding it. Kaushik Mitra, Vice President and Head of India Go-to-Market at Celonis, said even the most advanced AI models struggle to deliver meaningful outcomes without operational context. Process intelligence, he said, gives AI the understanding it needs to make better business decisions.

Sumed Marwaha, Managing Director of AHEAD India, echoed that view, saying AI creates the greatest value when built on modern infrastructure, sound engineering practices and strong governance frameworks.

Looking ahead, Dr Ashvini Jakhar, Founder and CEO of Prozo, said the divide will increasingly be between organisations that merely use AI tools and those that integrate AI into the way they operate. He said AI has already compressed execution timelines across multiple business functions, enabling faster decision-making and higher productivity.

Ankit Kedia, Founder and Lead Investor at Capital-A, pointed to industrial AI as India’s biggest opportunity, arguing that manufacturing, robotics, supply chains and climate technologies could produce the country’s next generation of globally competitive companies.

Taken together, the remarks suggest that enterprise AI is entering a more mature phase. The competitive advantage is no longer likely to come from simply adopting AI, but from building the governance, trust and operational discipline needed to turn its capabilities into lasting business value.