The Top 10 MIT SMR India Articles of 2025

In 2025, MIT Sloan Management Review India tracked how technology, leadership, and public policy collided with reality. From the complex economics of artificial intelligence adoption and the limits of autonomous AI agents, to career trade-offs, data governance, and the uneasy politics of systems that could exceed human intelligence, our reporting focused on what actually changes decision-making inside organizations. 

These stories moved past hype to examine execution gaps, power shifts, and the consequences of building quickly in an uneven world.

How Hostage Negotiation Tactics Can Help Win Corporate Battles

A conversation with former hostage negotiator Scott Walker reveals how high-stakes corporate negotiations run on the same basics as crisis work: trust, emotional control, and clarity under pressure. Walker’s core principle is simple, yet uncomfortable for many executives: “Trust,” and his added sting is that “about 80%” of his effort goes into managing his “own side,” not the other party.

Read the full article here.

Why Tech Leaders Warn About Superintelligence but Can’t Slow the Race

The story examines a superintelligence paradox: leading AI builders warn of its catastrophic risks while continuing to push forward with it. It draws on OpenAI’s belief that superintelligence risks are “potentially catastrophic,” as Microsoft AI chief executive Mustafa Suleyman’s questions about control illustrate why competitive dynamics, geopolitics, and opportunity costs make it difficult to enforce a meaningful slowdown.

Read the full article here.

The Challenge of Building an AI Agent for India, in India

The story maps India’s AI agent gap as a twin problem of talent and enterprise-grade infrastructure, not just clever prompt-writing. Pegasystems’ Deepak Visweswaraiah argues that “the number one factor is talent” and warns that “being able to write a prompt” is not the same as designing an agent that can be orchestrated, governed, and audited at scale.

Read the full article here.

Why Top AI Leaders Are Exiting Big Tech to Build Their Own

A wave of senior AI leadership exits, from Yann LeCun to Naveen Rao and Thomas Dohmke, signals an industry in a capital-heavy boom where top talent thinks the next layer of value will be built outside incumbents. The story ties founder momentum to abundant AI funding, organizational constraints inside Big Tech, and a market hungry for “second-time founders” with proven operating experience.

Read the full article here.

The Hidden Costs of Staying Too Long in One Job

The piece puts numbers to the “loyalty penalty” debate, arguing that many professionals lose out financially by staying in one job too long, while strategic job-switchers capture bigger jumps in pay and titles. It also highlights the limitations of job-hopping, with TeamLease Digital’s Neeti Sharma warning that switching without investing in skills will not result in better hikes.

Read the full article here.

What the DPDP Rules Mean for Data Governance

This story translates India’s Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules into operational reality: phased compliance timelines, centralized enforcement via the Data Protection Board (DPB), and new duties around consent, retention, breach reporting, and user rights. Legal expert Jyotsna Jayaram points out that the DPB “does not have suo motu powers” and “cannot issue guidance or policy,” clarifying how enforcement is designed to work in practice.

Read the full article here.

How is India’s AI Startup Arena Faring? A Reality Check

A data-led analysis of India’s AI startup cycle revealed a post-generative AI surge, followed by a sharp correction, with funding concentration and investor scrutiny increasing. Founders and investors framed the next phase as substance over slogans, with Recur Club’s Eklavya Gupta stressing the real test is “the size of the problem” and “the path to sustainable economics.”

Read the full article here. 

India is Becoming the World’s AI Workbench. Can it also be a Co-Owner?

A close examination of India’s role in the global AI landscape reveals that the country is gaining jobs, pilot projects, and partnerships; however, the ownership of value remains unresolved. The story highlights how foreign firms are establishing teams and distribution in India, while local voices caution that without domestic capacity, we could end up “renting access to its own intelligence.”

Read the full article here.

What Brands Get Wrong About Personalization

This piece employs the lens of behavioral scientist Patrick Fagan to critique shallow personalization and promote “psychological personalization,” grounded in motivation, rather than merely reducing friction. Fagan’s blunt rule, “Don’t be creepy,” anchors the argument that trust and transparency are design requirements, not afterthoughts.

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AI in Policing: India’s Test Case for Rights, Accountability, and Public Trust

Using real-life investigative examples, this article demonstrates how AI can revive stalled cases while raising challenging questions about evidence standards, bias, and constitutional limitations. Legal experts frame AI outputs as corroborative at best, stressing requirements such as authentication, accuracy, auditability, and human oversight before courts can safely rely on AI-assisted material.

Read the full article here.