Gaganyaan astronaut Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair highlights the critical need for AI sovereignty to safeguard national cybersecurity amidst the growing challenge of distinguishing real from fake content in the digital age.
Key Points
- Gaganyaan astronaut Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair advocates for AI sovereignty as crucial for national cybersecurity.
- The growing use of AI makes it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fake content, necessitating national control over AI technologies.
- Future wars and industries will adopt a ‘whole-of-nation approach,’ blurring physical and digital boundaries and affecting all citizens.
- India’s technological capabilities, exemplified by Chandrayaan-3, should be leveraged to strengthen AI and cybersecurity infrastructure.
- Rising cyberattacks, including ransomware, pose significant financial and operational risks, highlighting the urgent need for more cyber defenders.
Gaganyaan astronaut and IAF pilot Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair on Saturday said AI sovereignty is crucial for ensuring national cybersecurity, as the growing use of artificial intelligence is making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between real and fake content.
Speaking at the Kerala Cyber Suraksha Summit 2026, organised by Kerala Startup Mission and F9 Infotech, Nair said cybersecurity would have limited value unless the country developed ownership and control over AI technologies.
The Imperative of AI Sovereignty for National Security
“It is very important that we have AI sovereignty, and any amount of cybersecurity will be of no avail unless we own AI,” he said.
Nair said future wars and industries would involve a “whole-of-nation approach”, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between physical and digital boundaries.
“In the whole-of-nation approach, it’s very difficult to say where the physical boundaries end and where the digital boundaries start. And it’s going to affect all of us,” he said.
Navigating the Blurring Digital and Physical Boundaries
He stressed the need for greater awareness of cybersecurity and digital threats as AI, cyber technology and the digital environment become increasingly integrated into everyday life.
“We are all using digital and now AI is coming. We forget which is real and which is fake. It’s important to make sure that we, like in the olden days, keep our stuff inside the vault and lock it. We have to make sure that digitally we are secure,” he said.
India’s Technological Prowess and Future Challenges
Nair said India has demonstrated its technological capabilities through the successful Chandrayaan-3 mission, which landed near the Moon’s south polar region in August 2023.
“Remember that we all are Indians and we have that power. We are the ones who on 23 August 2023 put Chandrayaan-3 on the South Pole of the Moon, which nobody else has done,” he said.
He also noted India’s significant contribution to the global software ecosystem and said the country needed to build on these capabilities in AI, cybersecurity and digital technology.
“What we need right now is to understand that AI, cyber and digital environment is here to stay. It’s going to affect all our countrymen, and there are no exact boundaries,” Nair said.
He said space technology itself demonstrated how interconnected the physical and digital worlds have become and called for responsible use of AI to improve people’s lives.
Combating Rising Cyber Threats and Financial Losses
Vinayak Godse, CEO of the Data Security Council of India, said Keralam had significant potential to contribute to national, industrial and global technology requirements.
“We believe Keralam has a lot of potential. There is a lot of good talent available here. The basic literacy is very significantly higher here,” Godse said.
He said Keralam could develop and deliver solutions needed at the national, industrial and global levels, adding that it remained to be seen how the state’s technology ecosystem can evolve to achieve those objectives.
“We’d like to see that progress happening,” he said.
DGP Manoj Abraham said cyberattacks could now cripple nations and organisations, disable critical infrastructure and disrupt military operations without a single shot being fired.
“There has been a 389 per cent rise in ransomware victims worldwide, year-over-year, and in India the reported financial losses owing to cyber fraud in 2025 alone were worth Rs 19,813 crore. We are at a juncture where we need more defenders to take on the cyber attackers. Worldwide, there are 4.8 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs,” he said.
The summit was supported by the Data Security Council of India, TiE Kerala and the Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
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