As artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in business and everyday life, conversations around the technology are shifting from its capabilities to its impact on human behaviour, decision-making and identity. Against this backdrop, Our Highest Mantra (OHM) brought its global AI and Consciousness speaking tour to New Delhi, following its inaugural session in Bangkok with The AI Collective.
The private gathering brought together founders, investors, technologists, creators and operators to discuss the evolving relationship between humans and increasingly intelligent machines. The session was led by Sathi Roy, Founder and CEO of OHM, alongside James Pimentel-Pinto, an award-winning technologist, Apple's first iPhone developer in Europe and Chief Product Officer at OHM.
The discussion explored how AI is reshaping not only the future of work but also the way people think, relate, make decisions and experience being human.
Drawing from more than a decade of experience in scaling high-growth businesses, Roy said the inspiration behind founding OHM came after witnessing the human cost of relentless growth and high-performance environments.
"It was a slow accumulation of evidence," Roy said. "I watched people achieve the outcomes they were trained to pursue. But instead of arriving at steadiness, they were scattered and dysregulated."
Roy, who is currently leading OHM's global AI and Consciousness tour with Pimentel-Pinto, argued that one of the biggest misconceptions surrounding AI is equating intelligence with consciousness.
"Artificial intelligence is becoming part of the operating system of modern life. It can organize information, speed up work, identify patterns and help us solve problems at a scale previously unimaginable," she said. "But intelligence is not the same as consciousness. Consciousness is lived experience—memory, emotion, intuition, meaning, relationships and the ability to be transformed by life itself."
According to Roy, the larger challenge is not whether machines will surpass humans in capability, but whether people will gradually relinquish their own agency.
"The deeper risk is not that machines become more capable. It is that we begin surrendering our own agency without realizing it," she said, adding that while AI can automate calculations and repetitive work, curiosity, discernment and reflection remain uniquely human qualities.
Roy also suggested that AI amplifies existing human states rather than replacing them.
"If founders are scattered, the tools accelerate the scatter. If they are steady, the same tools extend their clarity," she said, adding that internal stability, rather than speed, will become a defining competitive advantage in the AI era.
Looking ahead, Roy believes discussions around consciousness will increasingly be framed in practical rather than spiritual terms.
"What will enter the mainstream will not look like spirituality. It will look like emotional literacy, nervous system regulation and cognitive resilience. The future will call it good design," she said.
She also highlighted India's unique position in shaping the global AI conversation, citing the country's engineering talent alongside its long-standing philosophical traditions exploring consciousness.
"India carries a deep inheritance of universal spiritual wisdom. Sharing that intelligently may be its most meaningful global contribution," Roy said.
The New Delhi event also sparked a collaboration with Nathasha Kumar, who invited Roy for a filmed conversation on AI, consciousness and spirituality for her platform.
"We need more humans like Sathi," Kumar said. "An insider to the AI revolution, moving from dharma, not just bluntly building and optimizing. Consciousness and awareness are the core seeding of these actions, not just an afterthought or a good-to-have."
The Delhi session is part of a broader international series through which Roy and Pimentel-Pinto are engaging founders, investors and researchers on the ethical and human responsibilities that accompany the next wave of AI development.
