Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw says the convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and biological intelligence could usher in a paradigm shift in medicine — moving healthcare from reactive treatment to predictive, regenerative, and preventive models. Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, she noted that while biology on its own has limitations in revealing deep insights into living systems, AI tools can dramatically expand understanding by processing multimodal data and revealing patterns humans might miss. This integration, she believes, could lead to breakthroughs in areas like lifespan management and regenerative science.
Mazumdar-Shaw drew attention to how biological systems naturally function like highly efficient “distributed data centres” — processing complex information with far less energy than today’s AI systems — and suggested that AI developers could learn from biology’s energy-efficient, rapid data processing. She highlighted the “holy grail” of medicine as the ability to reprogram cells — for example, converting malignant cancer cells into non-malignant ones — and argued that AI could accelerate progress toward such goals by enabling deeper insight into cellular behaviour.
A major implication of this convergence, she said, is shifting healthcare away from the traditional hospital-centric model toward community-based predictive and preventive care. By combining vast biological datasets with AI’s computational power, physicians and researchers may be able to anticipate health risks, tailor interventions earlier, and reduce the burden on physical healthcare infrastructure. This vision aligns with broader trends in medicine where predictive analytics and personalized care are becoming central to improving outcomes.
Mazumdar-Shaw also highlighted India’s strategic advantage in this space thanks to its open digital public infrastructure and large data ecosystems, which could help reduce the cost of AI inference and foster scalable innovation. She urged greater data sharing, saying that siloed information limits progress, and argued that if India can leverage its digital networks effectively, it could be well-positioned to lead the global shift toward AI-enhanced biological and healthcare systems.
