NEW DELHI: Highlighting the role of
AI
in driving inclusive growth,
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for a global framework to manage and monitor the ethical and transparent development and use of the next-gen technology, while warning about the dangers of it falling into the hands of terrorist organisations or other challenges such as deepfakes, cyber security, and data theft.
Inaugurating the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit here, the PM said that as AI starts to play a key role across geographies, there is a need to ensure that countries take steps to ensure the technology is harnessed for larger societal good and driving inclusive growth.
Noting the growth of AI as a worldwide movement, he said there should be coordination and collaboration for expediting work on creating a global framework. “We have to complete the global framework within a given time limit. It is very important to do this to protect humanity,” he said, adding that just like collaboration on drafting agreements and protocols on various international issues, there is a need for countries to work together to create a framework for the ethical use of AI, including the testing and development of high-risk or frontier AI tools.
The PM, however, warned that while AI has the potential to become the strongest tool for development in the 21st century, it can also play a pivotal role in its destruction. Pointing out the challenges of deepfake, cyber security, data theft, and terrorist organizations getting their hands on AI tools, Modi stressed on the need for countermeasures. “Besides the challenge of deepfakes, cyber security, and data theft, AI tools falling in the hands of terrorists pose a big threat. Global security will face a big threat if AI-laced weapons were to reach terrorist organisations. We have to deliberate on this issue and reach a concrete plan to stop the misuse of AI.”
He highlighted India’s proposal to create a framework for Responsible Human-Centric AI governance during the country’s G20 Presidency and said that the G20 New Delhi Declaration had also reaffirmed the commitment of all member countries towards ‘AI Principles’.
Modi said that in order to make any system sustainable, it is important to make it transformative, transparent and trusted. “There is no doubt that AI is transformative, but it is up to us to make it more and more transparent. Keeping the data being used transparent and free from bias will be a good beginning… Trust in AI will grow only when related ethical, economic, and social aspects are addressed. One way to do this is to make upskilling and reskilling part of the AI growth curve. Data protection and assurances to the global south will also assuage many concerns.”
On India, he said that the development mantra of the country has been ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’, which has prompted the government to draft its policies and programs with the spirit of AI for All.
The PM said that AI will be key in defining the future of the country, especially as it has the power to connect people, ensure economic development and drive in equality and social justice. He, however, emphasized on the the need to make AI and its development more inclusive. “… the more inclusive, the development journey of AI, the more inclusive will be the results.”
The PM said that the “unequal access to technology” in the last century had accentuated inequality in the society. “… democratic values should not be neglected in technology in order to make it an inclusion multiplier. Direction of AI development will totally depend on human and democratic values. It is up to us to keep a place for emotions along with efficiency, ethics along with effectiveness.”
Addressing the stakeholders in the government, the PM asked them to explore the data of various schemes for evidence-based decision-making and see if the data can be used to train AI tools. Also, he asked if there could be an audit mechanism that can categorize AI tools into red, yellow or green as per their capabilities.
