Developing Story
AI Export Controls and India's Strategic AI Autonomy
A June incident in which US export controls caused Anthropic to disable its AI models for foreign users has intensified debate over countries like India's strategic dependency on either US or Chinese AI infrastructure, with China positioning itself as an alternative partner.
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US export directives have restricted access to advanced AI models for foreign users, illustrated by an incident on June 12 when Anthropic's two flagship AI models went dark after an American export directive barred foreigners from using them, with access restored July 1 (SCMP, October 10). The episode has fueled debate in India over the risks of AI dependency on either the US or China. In September, at the Brics summit in New Delhi, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly promised China would support partner nations' AI development, positioning Beijing as an alternative to Washington's export controls (SCMP, October 10).
## Why it matters
The case illustrates how US export controls on frontier AI models can be wielded as geopolitical leverage, with significant consequences for countries like India that lack indigenous frontier AI capacity. This dynamic — a potential 'US leash or Chinese hook' — is likely to shape AI policy debates in middle powers globally and could influence how nations structure AI partnerships, compute access, and data sovereignty policies going forward.