BRICS is pushing AI as a driver of growth, with Chinese President Xi Jinping proposing five initiatives, including a BRICS AI open-source community. But the bloc’s AI push leaves major questions over jobs, environment and safety.

THE AI JOB QUESTION

BRICS is accelerating AI and automation, but the New Delhi Declaration offers no common plan to identify jobs at risk, retrain workers or measure AI-driven job losses.

India alone is estimated to have seen 9,000 to 35,000 direct and “silent” tech job cuts in 2026 linked to AI-driven restructuring, according to a LinkedIn report. Globally, 92,713 tech employees at 111 companies have reportedly been laid off because of AI, according to Layoffs.

THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND WATER COST

AI is driving a rapid data-centre expansion in India, which has 142–153 major commercial facilities, with over 65 per cent of capacity concentrated in coastal hubs. Mumbai/Navi Mumbai accounts for more than half of the country’s capacity, while Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Noida are also expanding.

But AI infrastructure demands huge amounts of land, power and water. A 20 MW data centre can consume around 1.4 million litres of water a day. In Thane, residents opposed a proposed 53-acre Amazon Web Services facility, warning it could use up to 12 million litres daily. In Visakhapatnam, protests have also targeted a planned USD 15 billion Google-Adani data-centre hub over water and environmental concerns.

A NEW TECHNOLOGY DIVIDE?

China’s push for a BRICS AI open-source ecosystem could help countries reduce dependence on Western technology. But it could also deepen the split between competing technology blocs and contribute to a new digital cold war.

There is also a contradiction in the idea of “controlled openness”: while China promotes open-source AI, it continues to restrict access to the most powerful capabilities on security and political grounds.

Xi’s proposal has also not been fully reflected in the final BRICS declaration, raising questions about whether members such as India and the UAE share the same approach to AI governance and safety.

THE SAFETY WARNING

The AI race is moving faster than the systems designed to control it. In September, OpenAI and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon quit his job and warned that AI companies’ “race will get us all killed in a few years.”

Another Anthropic report has claimed that the AI was used to make a biological weapon.

Reportedly weapons engineering cell in Yemen used it to help develop missile guidance systems and troubleshoot a failed rocket test. The report also described attempts to use AI for “gain-of-function” research involving the Chikungunya virus, including efforts to make it more transmissible and better able to evade the human immune system.