New Delhi, June 21 -- India's mushrooming artificial intelligence-focused startups are attracting a lot of buzz, but a lack of innovation and groundbreaking research means the country is way behind the US and China in the tussle for AI supremacy.

This is a result of what the industry calls 'secondary' innovation-technologies that cannot be patented globally to influence global economics in the long run. Spending on foundational engineering, research and development (ER&D) work in AI is minuscule, at least five executives involved in AI-related work told Mint.

In November, the World Intellectual Property Organization (Wipo's) annual report said that India was the sixth region in the world in terms of overall patent applications-behind Ch...