RAISE 2020, the global virtual summit on AI hosted by the Government of India, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 5. In his speech, Prime Minister Modi emphasised the need to leverage AI technology for the empowerment of common man, for the transformation of the nation and the nurturing of the next generation. 

"Artificial intelligence is a tribute to human intellectual power, the power to think enabled humans to make tools and technologies. Today, these tools and technologies have also acquired the power to learn and think," stated Prime Minister. 

The prime minister also pointed out that India is rich in its experiences when it comes to using technology for transparency and service delivery. He cited the success stories of Aadhar and UPI payment platform, which has provided access to digital services, including financial services such as direct cash transfer to the poor and marginalised. 

"We want India to become a global hub for AI," said the prime minister. "Many Indians are already working on this, and I hope many more do so in the times to come," PM added. 

When speaking about the power of AI technologies, Prime Minister Modi reminded the impact Natural Language Processing or NLP would have India's educational sector as we advance. He pointed out that as a result of advancements in NLP, e-courses can be developed in various regional languages and dialects based on the New Educational Policy. 

In terms of AI education itself, the prime minister highlighted the Responsible AI for Youth initiative from Ministry of Electronics and IT, in partnership with Intel, through which more than 11,000 students from schools has now completed the basic AI course.

Hei also mentioned the National Program on Artificial Intelligence, which will be dedicated towards rightful use of AI for solving problems of society, and shared his expectation that RAISE 2020 can be an ideal platform to brainstorm on this. 

The prime minister also raised the possibilities of using AI for optimal management of assists and resources, while suggesting that AI can bring out the unique talents and capabilities in children through AI-powered analytic reports on their aptitudes. 

However, despite being a strong evangelist of AI technologies, Prime Minister Modi warned us about the challenges it poses as well. 

"It remains our collective responsibility to ensure trust in how AI is used, he stated. "Algorithm Transparency is key to establishing this Trust, equally important is accountability", he added. 

Prime minister also warned that we must protect the world against the weaponisation of AI by Non-State Actors.

One central theme that firmly stood out in the speech of the prime minister was the need for bridging human emotions and intuition with raw cognitive powers of AI, to solve numerous social and economic challenges. 

"While we discuss AI, let also have no doubts that human creativity and human emotions continue to be our greatest strength. They are our unique advantage over machines."

Prime minister concluded his speech by noting that even the smartest AI cannot solve humankind's problems without blending with human intellect and empathy.