‘AI or die;India on right track’: SandboxAQ CEO at WEF 2026

Embracing artificial intelligence is no longer optional for individuals, businesses or governments, and India appears to be moving in the right direction to harness its transformative potential, SandboxAQ Chief Executive Officer Jack Hidary said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting.Speaking at Davos, Hidary outlined his central thesis of “AI or Die”, the title of his upcoming book, which argues that companies and economies that adopt AI will grow, while those that fail to do so risk becoming irrelevant. He described the current phase as a major inflection point across industries, where AI has shifted from being a “nice to have” to an existential necessity.

SandboxAQ was born as a moonshot research unit at Google’s parent Alphabet Inc in 2016, before being spun off as an independent company in 2022. The firm focuses on enterprise solutions at the convergence of artificial intelligence and quantum technologies, offering tools for sectors such as drug discovery, materials science, navigation, energy and cybersecurity. Its investors include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who is now chairman of SandboxAQ, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and T Rowe Price, among others.Hidary said AI has the potential to dramatically shorten timelines in critical areas such as healthcare. In life sciences, AI-enabled models can accelerate drug discovery for diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s, significantly reducing development cycles that traditionally stretched over 15 years. In the energy sector, he noted that companies deploying AI-powered catalysts to convert oil and gas into new energy products are likely to gain a competitive edge.
Highlighting India’s importance, Hidary pointed to the country’s population of around 1.4 billion and said large-scale AI adoption would be essential for remaining globally competitive, particularly in education and workforce development. He added that India’s economy is still largely rooted in the physical world, with sectors such as railways, energy, telecom and infrastructure accounting for nearly 80 per cent of economic activity.“Much of the excitement around AI today is in the digital world—documents, images and videos,” he said. “At SandboxAQ, the focus is on AI for the real world, grounded in physics, mathematics and chemistry, creating new medicines, materials and catalysts. That is where the real economic impact lies for India.”On cybersecurity, which the WEF has flagged as one of the most immediate risks for India, Hidary said cyber resilience is fundamental to national security, both at the federal and state levels. He noted that Indian states are comparable in size to many countries and house critical infrastructure such as banking systems, telecom networks and public utilities.
He also highlighted the global footprint of Indian IT majors such as Infosys, Wipro and TCS, which manage vast volumes of sensitive customer data worldwide. This, he said, makes robust cybersecurity frameworks essential not only for corporates but also for governments, as AI introduces both new capabilities and new vulnerabilities.Hidary stressed the need for advanced AI-driven solutions to counter AI-related risks, adding that SandboxAQ’s platforms are already being used by banks, enterprises and governments across several countries, including the United States.
He also pointed to a major opportunity for India to move up the value chain by creating intellectual property domestically. While some Indian pharmaceutical companies are developing new medicines, many others remain focused on manufacturing drugs based on IP developed elsewhere. AI-driven molecular design tools, he said, could help Indian firms transition from being IP consumers to IP creators.Life sciences, according to Hidary, is one of the most promising sectors for such a shift. By applying AI to real-world scientific problems, he said, India could unlock large-scale productivity gains and long-term economic growth.“Our goal is to help drive that transformation by working closely with industry and governments,” Hidary said, adding that India’s progress so far suggests it is well positioned to benefit from the next phase of the AI revolution.