In the global race for artificial intelligence supremacy, India is charting a path unlike any other, one that begins not in glittering metros but in its smaller towns and rural districts. The country’s AI revolution is quietly taking shape in places once known more for ancient temples or cotton mills than for code and data. These communities are becoming the unseen backrooms of the digital age, where thousands of young Indians are training, annotating, and fine-tuning AI systems that will shape the technologies of tomorrow. This transformation represents far more than a new outsourcing wave.

It signals a shift in how India’s talent and geography are being reimagined for a digital future. What once required migration to urban hubs can now be achieved from one’s hometown, powered by broadband connectivity, cloud infrastructure, and remote work platforms. Firms operating from semi-urban........

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