By Erick These are the most relevant tech news for Indians from the last seven days, and why each of them matters.
Note: this post was supposed to be published on 10th February 2025 and is for the preceding week. Been travelling, hence the delay. Life, am I right? Eh…. Ok lets get on with it.
Sam Altman’s India Visit
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, visited India, highlighting it as OpenAI’s 2nd largest market with tripled users in a year. He met PM Modi & IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw to discuss AI collaboration on chips, models, and applications. Altman praised India’s potential to lead in cost-effective AI innovation.
Why it matters: because f*ck OpenAI that’s why. Read also about the lawsuit filed against OpenAI in India. Make no mistake, his visit is transactional, it’s to try and get him goodwill to get away with STEALING Indian Newscorp’s and creators’ data (like all generative AI companies do btw) and to get try and get preferential treatment and favours from Tech India, including the largest AI data Centre thats underway. Just look at this quote for instance:
“On the other side of it, the cost of a given unit of intelligence one year later seems to fall by 10x… but I don’t think the world is going to need any less AI hardware,” Altman said.
Read: India is OpenAI’s second biggest market: Sam Altman
We really need to stop idolizing these ruthless capitalists as “innovators” or role models. Everyone knows my disdain for Elon Musk (f*ck Starlink even when it comes to India) and Altman is no different. They want to make record profits while selling vapourware.
Anyway. Here’s some other news.
DeepSeek Stirs Some Sh*t Up
I’m not going to write about this one. But I’m going to link to a wonderful article that has everything you need to know about DeepSeek (so far) and the fiasco it caused for US markets and think tank.
Why it (still) matters: there are concerns that DeepSeek – and it’s in its terms of use – will share your data with the Chinese Government. It’s a valid concern – valid for every AI and most online services you use. Meta has more data about you than anyone else.
Read: DeepSeek: Links and Memes
SEBI’s crackdown on Finance Influencer
India’s market regulator fined stock influencer Asmita Patel ₹50 crore for misleading advice. New rules now ban real-time trading data use in educational content, enforcing a 3-month lag.
Why it matters: everyone should really pay attention to this. This is different from the BeerBiceps issue. This is SEBI taking action after an investigation and noticing that influencers are using their platform to make large financial gains by selling fake promises. Social media users should be smarter about who they follow and who they take advice from, especially where they are being asked to pay for a course that “guarantees to make you rich”.
Read: SEBI bans Patel, five others
Note: it may be hypocritical for me to praise enforcement taken against an influencer. I don’t call myself an influencer, but I do like providing information, analysis and giving opinions of my own and I quite honestly like this space – the power that social media gives you to use their platform to reach millions of people. I want to reach people like you mainly to tell you to stay grounded and not buy the tech hype, because your rupees are worth much more than a lot of “flagships” and “life-changing tech” that other influencers say you must own.
I’m not calling anyone out here. Social Media is not a zero sum game, and hundreds of not thousands of influencers can thrive.
Social Media users, however, should be smarter and take the information they get from influencers with a bit of skepticism, always. Especially where YOUR money is involved, and especially where you worked really hard for your money and don’t want to make regrettable tech purchases that fall short of promises (I.e. vapourware).
For example, every time you see a “buying guide” on a tech website – nothing wrong with that – you should know that oftentimes publishers will “suggest” to you to buy products which are not necessarily the best value for money, but which give them the best affiliate income. And it’s worse if such publishers do not disclose that the links on their site are affiliate links, and you might think they are listed because the publisher really believes the product and not because the publisher simply wants you to spend your money so that they can get some of it.
More on this in my next post.
Infosys Fresher Controversy
There were reports that Infosys did a mass layoff of freshers. Infosys came down heavily on reports suggesting that the company was in the process of laying off over 400 trainees after their failure to pass evaluation tests, saying that these trainees underwent the same evaluation tests as everyone and didn’t make the cut.
Why this matters: if you’re thinking of working for a big Indian tech firm – and if you’re studying Engineering chances are they’ll be your college’s biggest recruiters out of campus placement – be prepared for stuff like this. Remember always that your boss, and his boss, and his boss’ boss’ boss, exist to serve the company and shareholders’ interests and not your interest. THATS the sad reality of corporate tech.
Read: Infosys hits back at “mass layoffs” buzz
Zomato Rebranding
The food-delivery giant announced a corporate identity overhaul, hinting at diversification beyond core services.
Why it matters: this probably follows the Meta-Facebook and Alphabet-Google relationship. Not to be confused, Zomato will still exist as a food delivery service. Quote:
Eternal would comprise its four major businesses – food delivery vertical Zomato, quick-commerce unit Blinkit, live events business District and kitchen supplies unit Hyperpure, the company said.
Read: Zomato rebrands to Eternal
That’s it for now, see you next week.