Computer, Internet & Artificial Intelligence

Essay Category: 7.3 | Last updated: 2026-07-20

PYQs Asked

The process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced. -2021
Technology as the silent factor in international relations. -2020
Rise of Artificial Intelligence: the threat of jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling. -2019
Social media is inherently a selfish medium. -2017
Cyberspace and Internet: Blessing or curse to the human civilization in the long run. -2016
Increasing computerization would lead to the creation of a dehumanized society. -2006
Computer: the harbinger of silent revolution. -1993

Content Bank

Key Arguments & Ideas

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Facts & Data

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Contemporary Examples

(Current affairs added over time — recent real-world instances for this theme)

AI solves an 80-year-old maths problem (2026): An OpenAI model reportedly cracked the "planar unit distance problem" open since 1946 (a Paul Erdős problem) — hailed as a landmark in AI reasoning, with a Cambridge mathematician saying a human author would merit a top-journal publication. Powerful example of AI moving from tool to researcher/discoverer. Counterpoint for balance: models still "hallucinate," so AI proofs need human verification — feeds the "blessing or curse" and "self-discovery outsourced" PYQ themes. (Indian Express, 04-06-2026)
Deepfakes weaponised against children (2026): Guwahati schoolboys created and sold AI-generated explicit images of 64 classmates and teachers on Telegram — a stark instance that "increasing computerization can lead to a dehumanized society" (2006): AI image tools have democratised non-consensual synthetic media, with minors as both victims and offenders. (The Hindu, 15-06-2026)
AI sovereignty / "trusted AI" (2026): At the India–France summit, Macron attacked the US ban on non-US access to Anthropic's frontier models as "closing up AI into a power tool," and both leaders pitched cooperative, human-centric AI — a live illustration of "technology as the silent factor in international relations" (2020): model access and compute are now geopolitical chokepoints, strengthening the case for AI sovereignty (IndiaAI Mission). (The Hindu, 15-06-2026)
The limits of AI — extrapolation & judgment (2026): A Science Advances study showed top AI weather models (GraphCast, Pangu-Weather, Fuxi) match physics models on normal weather but systematically under-predict record-breaking extremes — they interpolate within past data yet can't extrapolate to the unprecedented; and an oncologist's account shows LLMs democratise medical knowledge but "information is not judgment" (accuracy collapses on complex cases, eroding doctor–patient trust and delaying care). A balanced, current counterpoint to AI-hype for "cyberspace: blessing or curse" (2016) and "AI: jobless future or reskilling" (2019): AI is powerful within its training distribution but brittle exactly where stakes are highest. (The Hindu, 16-06-2026)
AI becomes a metered utility (2026): Microsoft shifted its AI agents to "pay-as-you-go" pricing — paying by usage, not a flat per-seat subscription — because, unlike selling software once, every prompt and agent action consumes compute (token cost). It moves AI toward the economics of electricity/cloud: a powerful image for essays on AI's spread ("silent revolution," "blessing or curse") — AI is becoming infrastructure billed like a meter, raising both access (pay for what you use) and unpredictability/affordability concerns. (The Hindu, 21-06-2026)
"Keeping humanity at the centre" — a moral compass for AI (2026): Pope Leo XIV's encyclical "Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of AI" warns against AI-driven "new forms of dehumanization" and the "idolatry of profit," urging us to stay "profoundly human." It frames the deepest essay question — whether functional efficiency and material abundance should prevail over human dignity, emotion and the "yearnings of the human soul" — and pairs the promise (cancer screening, education, disaster forecasting) against a feared "global epidemic of stress" and a "useless class." Modi (VivaTech Paris / India-AI Impact Summit) argues for an enforceable, not voluntary, global AI framework and digital sovereignty. A ready philosophical anchor (with Ortega y Gasset's "Lord of all things, he is not Lord of himself") for "increasing computerization can lead to a dehumanized society" (2006) and "blessing or curse" themes. (The Hindu, 26-06-2026)
Embodied AI — intelligence needs a body (2026): Boston Dynamics and Google DeepMind gave Spot, the robot dog, an AI brain (Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6). The field's claim is philosophically striking: a body is not a container for intelligence but part of the computation itself — a passive-dynamic walker strolls downhill with no motors and no control system, because leg geometry does the computing; a soft robot hand grasps an unknown shape because the material adapts. Yet the gap between demo and reality is stark: humanoids last ~90 minutes on a charge, and policies that succeed 95% of the time in the lab fall to ~60% in the real world. Two uses: (a) a direct rebuttal to the disembodied, purely-informational view of mind implied by "self-discovery technologically outsourced" (2021) — intelligence is situated, embodied and materially constrained; (b) a caution for "blessing or curse" (2016) — the coming automation wave targets manual and service work, not just cognitive work, arriving precisely as India's Gen Z faces graduate unemployment of 29–37%. (The Hindu, 20-07-2026)
India's first private orbital launch — Vikram-1 (2026): Skyroot Aerospace's Vikram-1 reached orbit from Sriharikota on 18 July 2026 (mission Aagaman), making India the third country to host a private enterprise with orbital capability. Founded in 2018 by two former ISRO engineers, the firm went from engine tests (2020) to a suborbital flight (2022) to orbit in eight years — after reforms ended ISRO's six-decade state monopoly. Superb for "Computer: the harbinger of silent revolution" (1993) and technology-and-the-state themes: the achievement was as much a policy artefact as an engineering one. Balance it with the editorial's caution — "an engineering triumph seeking commercial viability" — and the fact that India still has no Space Activities Act, so liability rests on contract rather than statute: capability arriving ahead of law is a recurring pattern worth naming in any tech essay. (The Hindu, 18/20-07-2026)
The F&O trap — technology democratising loss (2026): UPI, cheap smartphones and discount brokerages carried derivatives trading into small-town India — and over 90% of individual traders lost money, with aggregate retail losses above ₹2.8 lakh crore since FY22. The traders are 86.3% male, 72% from tier-2/3 cities, 75% earning under ₹5 lakh a year, competing against algorithmic systems co-located inside exchange servers that generate 97% of institutional profits. A precise, unsentimental illustration for "Cyberspace and Internet: blessing or curse" (2016): the same infrastructure celebrated as financial inclusion became the delivery mechanism for extraction — access is not capability. (The Hindu, 20-07-2026)

Historical Examples

(From class notes, NCERT, ancient/medieval/modern history relevant to this theme)

Mentor, and the long tradition of guided learning: the word itself comes from Homer's Odyssey — Mentor was Odysseus's friend who guided his son during his father's long absence. The chain runs Socrates → Plato → Aristotle; in India, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa → Vivekananda, and Chanakya → Chandragupta Maurya; in our own time, Vikram Sarabhai, Satish Dhawan and Brahm Prakash → A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Useful as a counterweight in AI-and-education essays: what technology can deliver is information; what the mentor tradition delivers is judgment, empathy and moral compass — the very things an algorithm cannot supply. (The Hindu EducationPlus, 20-07-2026)

Useful Quotes

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Essay Angles & Structure Tips

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