Manas AI's Siddhartha Mukherjee on AI’s evolution, drug discovery and India-China’s role | HTLS 2026

Manas AI CEO Siddhartha Mukherjee discussed the evolution of artificial intelligence, its underlying learning systems and concerns surrounding its rapid rise at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2026. Mukherjee traced AI's development through IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer, which defeated reigning world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game rematch in May 1997, marking a landmark moment in human-machine competition. Comparing symbolic AI with neural learning, he said humans do not learn through symbolic systems alone and rely largely on neural learning, supplemented by symbolic reasoning. Mukherjee also described the rapid progress of AI as powerful but potentially dangerous, citing growing concerns around the world. He said AI's ability to bring transformative changes in medicine could help address some of the doubts surrounding the technology.