Google’s recent unveiling at I/O Connect India 2025 signals an ambitious stride toward consolidating its dominance in the rapidly evolving Indian tech landscape. By providing cutting-edge AI tools like Gemini and Gemma 3 to local startups, the tech giant seems poised to reshape the future of digital innovation in India. But beneath this veneer of progress lurks a more complicated reality—one where a handful of colossal tech corporations are seizing control under the guise of democratization. While the announcement champions collaborative growth, it subtly reveals a creeping pattern of dependency that threatens genuine local innovation and sovereignty.
Local Startups as Showcases of Big Tech Power, Not Independent Innovation
The enthusiasm surrounding the eight startups showcasing on-stage—the likes of Sarvam, CoRover, Glance, and Nykaa—may appear to be fostering growth, yet it primarily functions as a showcase for Google’s dominance. These companies are not merely benefiting from AI; they are effectively powered by Google’s models, which act as a global “oracle,” dictating the capabilities and limits of what local developers can create. The fact that these startups are using models like Gemma 3 and Gemini to launch translation, chatbots, personalized experiences, and multimedia tools indicates a reliance that risks homogenizing Indian digital culture under Western technological standards.
Instead of nurturing diversified, indigenous AI ecosystems, Google’s involvement risks creating a dependency loop—where market innovation is shaped by the capabilities and constraints of dominant foreign models. This leads to a scenario where local ingenuity isn’t fully native but mediated by a foreign corporation’s cloud infrastructure. In this context, the startup stories become less tales of independent innovation and more narratives of dependency on a foreign giant wielding immense influence over India’s AI future.
The Illusion of Empowerment Without Sovereignty
Google’s claim to empower Indian startups by offering AI models and access to their cloud infrastructure sounds promising. However, it masks a subtle form of control that can stifle local competition and innovation. By funneling a significant portion of AI development through their APIs, models, and cloud services, Google subtly tightens its grip on digital infrastructure. Startups like Invideo and Nykaa can enhance their products, but their foundational tools and data pipelines depend heavily on Google’s ecosystem, raising critical questions about sovereignty and data privacy.
Furthermore, the narrative of democratization becomes suspect when it’s driven by a corporation that stands to benefit exponentially from the adoption of its proprietary AI. The availability of these tools does not equate to empowerment if the power remains concentrated within a monopolistic context. True digital independence requires fostering home-grown AI capacities, not merely facilitating foreign corporate dominance wrapped in the language of collaboration.
The Power Dynamics Behind the Tech Curtain
The introduction of the Google for Startups Accelerator’s second cohort of AI-driven Indian startups, marketed as support for local innovation, deserves critical scrutiny. Are these initiatives genuinely fostering autonomous entrepreneurship, or are they serving as channels to embed Google’s ecosystem even deeper into Indian digital infrastructure? The history of global tech giants shows a pattern of strategic philanthropy and support that ultimately consolidates their control. The list of startups that Google has previously supported—over 230 in a decade—has primarily translated into stronger market positions for the corporation rather than a proliferation of truly independent local champions.
What’s concerning is how this dynamic discourages the development of a balanced innovation ecosystem—one that relies on multiple players and fosters indigenous AI capabilities. Instead, reliance on Google’s models may create a fragile ecosystem vulnerable to shifts in corporate strategy or geopolitical tension. This setup risks reducing India’s AI ecosystem to an extension of the Google empire, where the local talent remains trapped within the confines of models that are not open-source or customizable at a fundamental level.
The Hidden Costs of Tech Hegemony
While Google’s AI models promise rapid development and sophisticated features, they come at a price—specifically, a loss of control over core digital assets. With most AI processes and data hosted on Google’s cloud, Indian startups risk becoming dependent on a foreign provider whose interests may not align with national or local priorities. This dependency could hamper efforts to develop a resilient, sovereign digital economy.
The narrative of AI-driven empowerment needs to be reassessed critically. Is this simply a new chapter of global technological colonization, where local innovation is reduced to lapdog status serving Western corporate interests? Alternatively, can India forge its own path—developing indigenous AI models and infrastructure that serve its unique linguistic, cultural, and economic needs? Until then, the promise of a truly empowered Indian tech sector remains an illusion, obscured by the allure of quick technological wins facilitated by the giants.
In the end, the rush to incorporate powerful AI tools in India highlights a broader dilemma—whether the pursuit of technological advancement can coexist with the preservation of sovereignty and diversity in digital innovation. As Google propels itself deeper into this promising yet perilous landscape, one thing remains clear: true empowerment will only come when local players take the reins, not when they merely borrow the keys from the global imperialists disguised as benefactors.