New Delhi, February 17: When users interact with AI chatbots, generate images, or rely on smart applications, the experience feels seamless and intuitive. Yet behind that polished interface lies a vast, collaborative ecosystem of developers building and maintaining the digital infrastructure that makes modern technology possible.
OpenUK CEO Amanda Brock describes software developers as the invisible architects of the AI era. Using a simple analogy, she explains that while people focus on the “toppings” — the flashy AI products and applications — the real strength lies in the “base.” That base is open source: shared code, datasets, tools, and infrastructure that power cloud platforms, mobile apps, cybersecurity systems, and increasingly, artificial intelligence.
Open source is rarely glamorous, but it is foundational. Developers across time zones contribute to shared repositories, fix bugs, review code, and improve models. Platforms such as GitHub serve as collaborative digital workshops where contributions are tracked, refined, and reused. This open ecosystem lowers barriers, allowing a student in New Delhi to contribute alongside engineers in London or San Francisco.
India at the Centre of the Global Developer Ecosystem
India has emerged as a central force in this open-source movement. According to GitHub’s Octoverse 2025 report, India now has over 21.9 million developers on the platform, making it the fastest-growing developer community globally and the largest contributor base to open source. In 2025 alone, more than 5 million new developers from India joined the platform.This scale reflects a vast pool of students, engineers, researchers, and freelancers contributing to global AI systems and digital services. India is not merely consuming technology; it is helping build its foundations.
However, Brock points to an important nuance. While India ranks among the top collaborators internationally and leads in the number of individual contributors, the emergence of globally dominant open-source projects and large-scale tech companies originating from India is still evolving.
The next phase, she suggests, requires stronger institutional leadership and support structures to convert contributor scale into globally influential platforms and enterprises.
Balancing Innovation and Governance in the AI Era
As AI systems grow more sophisticated, the focus is shifting from pure development to governance. Smart and targeted regulation, particularly in sectors such as healthcare and finance, is essential. At the same time, excessive restrictions could risk slowing innovation.The broader challenge for policymakers is to protect citizens while preserving the openness and dynamism that fuel technological progress.
While the world celebrates breakthrough AI applications, the deeper story lies in the millions of developers collaboratively building the digital base. India’s expanding developer community is playing a central role in shaping that foundation, ensuring that the infrastructure underpinning the AI age remains strong, scalable, and globally connected.
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