New Delhi, May 16 -- India's potential to shape the future of artificial intelligence (AI) is significant, with the country "well positioned" to influence global AI development, said Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google and Alphabet, at a roundtable during Google's annual conference, Google I/O.

"For India and other emerging countries, technology shifts are opportunities to catch up or leap ahead," Pichai said.

India was unlikely to match developed countries in personal computing penetration, but in mobile adoption, more people gained access than in previous generations, Pichai elaborated.

Many people skipped landlines and went straight to cellular phones. With each technology shift, there's a chance to increase penetration. This i...