DevConf.IN 2026

India doesn’t need bigger models as much as it needs AI systems that survive reality: multiple languages and scripts, noisy inputs, uneven connectivity, diverse devices, cost constraints, and high-stakes use cases. In this 15-minute lightning talk, I’ll translate the “Chandrayaan mindset” into a practical career playbook for AI builders: how to move from shipping impressive demos to shipping trustworthy systems that teams can adopt and maintain.

I’ll share a simple framework shaped by my engineering journey across five countries—speed of execution, rigor and repeatability, creativity with sovereignty, product communication, and India’s adaptability—and map it to what matters in real deployments: data readiness, evaluation as “unit tests for behavior,” safety/access controls, monitoring, and rollback-ready releases.

You’ll leave with a one-page checklist and a 30-day challenge: pick one artifact (eval set, test harness, monitoring dashboard, docs, deployment blueprint) you can contribute at work or in open source to strengthen India’s AI ecosystem—and your own growth.

What attendees will learn:
- A practical framework to grow from model-chasing to systems thinking.
- A concrete checklist + 30-day action to build trustworthy AI for India-scale variance.