India has a new Chinese headache, it is called Kimi

The world is fast turning into a space divided between those who have access to top AI and those who don't, similar to how some nations have 5th-generation fighter planes and most don't. The US has Mythos, China now has Kimi, and that could be a headache for India.People walk past the Moonshot booth promoting its Kimi K3 AI model, during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026. REUTERS/Go Nakamura REFILE - ADDING INFORMATIONThe US has the F-35, a fifth-generation fighter plane. China has Shenyang J-35, a fifth-generation fighter plane with similar capabilities. The US has Anthropic Mythos AI, arguably the world’s most potent AI model. Now, China has Kimi K3 aka Kimi 3.0, arguably the equally potent AI model.The world is fast turning into a space divided between those who have access to state-of-the-art frontier AI models and those who don’t, somewhat similar to how some countries have fifth-generation fighter planes and most don’t. Until last week it was clear that the US was at least 6-8 months ahead of everyone in AI. But the arrival of Kimi K3 last week has changed the equation drastically.This has many implications, in sectors as diverse as financial markets to military potency. Kimi K3 changes the world of AI, and the world at large, in an unequivocal manner. But the one aspect that is worth our attention, at least over here in India, is how it has the potential to change the power equation between India and China.It is no secret that AI has become a strategic asset, similar to nuclear energy or a chip-making machine or an advanced weapon system like the F-35. It is no longer a mere plaything of tech nerds who love to use it to vibe-code dieting apps. This is the reason why the US has moved to restrict availability of top AI models, and why China too — now that it has Kimi K3 — is looking to do so.The reasons are clear. Whether you hear from Sam Altman or from Dario Amodei of Anthropic, they all are saying the same thing. The smarts and speed that a model like Mythos brings to data analysis, complex war planning and execution, automated weapons systems, manufacturing, cyber defence and offence is of decisive nature. Those who have the advantage of this speed and smarts will also have a strategic advantage over those who don’t have it. Until last week only the US, and its close allies, had this advantage. Now, China too has it through Kimi K3. The new Chinese AI model, cooked up by savant and Moonshot founder Yang Zhilin, is extremely good. Even Silicon Valley, which tends to pooh pooh anything that has not been created in a garage in Palo Alto, is impressed.David Sacks, who was the AI Czar at White House until recently, sounded the alarm bells in an X post. “This is concerning. For the first time, a Chinese model Kimi K3 has taken No 1 on the Frontend Code Arena and is scoring at or near the frontier on other benchmarks,” he wrote. “Meanwhile America is tying itself in knots: politicians and bureaucrats are banning new data centers, piling on state regulations, and pushing for new federal agencies to pre-approve frontier models. This is how you lose the AI race.” That is in the US. I believe in India too we need to start looking at what Kimi K3 brings to the table and start thinking in terms of AI as a strategic asset instead of a mere Saas killer.In a world where a Mythos like AI model is not available to anyone except to the US and its bosom friends, India must have its own AI models to safeguard its own strategic interests. While I see the Indian government making efforts to kickstart the AI era in the country, I also believe the efforts so far have not been enough.It is true that as a country we face many challenges in the AI race. Unlike in the US where companies can raise billions of dollars within weeks, we do not have that kind of funding. Similarly, we do not have enough compute to train extremely large AI models — Kimi K3, for example, is a model with nearly 3-trillion parameters. And finally, we also do not have the talent within the country to set up a couple of ambitious AI labs and cook up state-of-the-art models, even though we have people from India — OpenAI CTO Uday Ruddarraju, for example — who are at the forefront of AI development.Yet, India as a modern nation has always faced challenges. But we have also overcome those challenges. Despite odds, the country built a fairly reliable and successful space programme even if our first communication satellite was transported around on a bullock kart. Similarly, despite all odds we have built a successful nuclear energy and weapons programme, something that has given the country immense strategic heft. We are a country of chaos that often seems dysfunctional and yet we have done some exemplary work in many sectors and many areas in ways most countries in the global south have not.India has faced challenges and has met them head on. And yet again we must do it. A beginning has to be made, in all earnestness and in all honesty. The challenges need to be realised, in all earnestness and all honesty, and then solutions need to be found.That is because Kimi K3 changes many equations, for the world as well as for India. It is true that currently K3 is an Open Source model, which means anyone can take it, tweak it, and run it locally if the compute and infrastructure is available. But Kimi K3 is not the end of the race. These are still early days in the world of AI. In a year or two, it is safe to assume that there will be even more powerful AI models, which are faster and likely smarter. Imagine a 20-trillion model. You will not see any difference in how these models write emails, but you will see them perform better in more complex tasks, like managing an army of robots carrying automated weapons.And when these AI models that are even more powerful than Kimi K3 and Anthropic Mythos arrive, it is certain that they will not be available widely. They will likely be available through a state-issued licence, or possibly will not be available at all to any private organisation. In such a world, any country that doesn’t have the access to the most advanced AI models will be at the mercy of those who have such AI systems. India should make an effort, beginning now, to be among the haves and not have nots.- EndsPublished By: Divya BhatiPublished On: Jul 22, 2026 15:56 IST