Digital Sovereignty and AI: Developing India’s National AI Stack for Strategic Autonomy

India’s pursuit of digital sovereignty has gained urgency as global dependencies in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies pose risks to national security, data privacy, and economic independence. This paper presents the concept of a National AI Stack, a comprehensive AI infrastructure tailored to India’s unique socio-economic and technological needs. The National AI Stack aims to reduce reliance on foreign AI frameworks by fostering indigenous AI development across critical sectors. The paper presents the key components of this stack, consisting of seven layers, namely the Strategic Integration Layer, Hardware Layer, Compute Layer, Data Layer, Model Layer, API & Applications Layer, and Security and Compliance Layer. By leveraging India’s vast and diverse datasets and focusing on building domestic capacity, the National AI Stack is envisioned as a strategic initiative for achieving digital autonomy, ensuring the ethical and secure deployment of AI systems. However, this proposal faces multiple challenges and risks that must be tackled to succeed. Issues such as data privacy, ethical AI practices, and navigating the regulatory landscape require careful attention to preserve public trust and ensure the responsible implementation of AI systems.