The Government of India will host its first AI global summit, RAISE 2020, virtually from October 5th to 9th this year. The five-day virtual summit will provide a platform for global participants to exchange ideas on how AI can be used for transforming society, inclusive development and citizen empowerment. The term RAISE itself stands for Responsible AI for Social Empowerment, and the summit will feature some of the most prominent speakers on the domain across India and globe. 

In the course of the last half a decade or so, Artificial Intelligence technology has been becoming a vital tool for India’s social transformation efforts. According to a McKenzie’s report, AI will add around 13 trillion in terms of value to the global GDP by 2030. Another report by Accenture points out that AI can help Indian economy grow by an additional 15% by 2035. Similarly, the recent NASSCOM report states that an integrated data utilization strategy can add $450- $500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. Interestingly, most of that value expected to come from the adoption of AI in industries other than software and IT. 

Even though much of the global debate in terms of AI has been on its economic and strategic importance, India has been following a more noble approach to AI. The country has been one of the global leaders in making sure the AI deployments maintain ethical and responsible AI standards. India is also a founding member of the Global Partnership on AI alliance. 

According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “there should not be a debate on the dangers of artificial intelligence, but there should debate as to when the robot will be smarter than the human.”

“There should be a debate as to how a bridge can be made between artificial intelligence and human intentions,” Prime Minister stated earlier. 

“The digital transformation, led by our leader Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, is changing India without any hiccups, which is a unique case study for the world,” stated the Minister of Information Technology and Law Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier this year. 

“We should use AI in a more focused manner for agriculture, healthcare, to education”, as “AI will enable us to explore more opportunities and address more challenges,” he added.

It is not just Indian leaders who are optimistic by the AI potential of India. Andrew Ng, one of the most notable names in AI, noted that India has all the right characteristics to become a global powerhouse in AI. “AI has a huge role to play in India, and India has a huge role to play in the rise of AI,” Andrew NG stated.

The RAISE 2020 summit, which will now be hosted a virtual event amidst COVID19 pandemic, features panels and speakers addressing many areas crucial for the countries AI development. The key themes include healthcare, agriculture, skilling, fintech, education, research, mobility, etc. The event will also seek to bring global discourse on Responsible AI and governance of AI. 

“A data-rich environment like India has the potential to be the world’s leading AI laboratory which can eventually transform lives globally. AI technology is a powerful tool that can be used to create a positive impact in the Indian context, further becoming the AI destination for the world,” stated Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on the significance of RAISE 2020.

“The name ‘RAISE 2020’ came into being because we want to leverage responsible AI practices for enabling the masses. Through this summit we will outline India’s vision for utilizing the power of Artificial Intelligence to responsibly transform the social landscape for a better tomorrow. RAISE 2020 will facilitate an exchange of ideas to further create a mass awareness about the need to ethically develop and practice AI in the digital era,” said Abhishek Singh, President and CEO, National e-Governance Division (NeGD) earlier this year about the summit.

The summit will also feature an Artificial Intelligence Solution Challenge for Indian startups and tech entrepreneurs to promote and showcase such innovative AI solutions developed by Indian startups. Applications for the challenge is currently invited on Innovate Platform of MyGov and 15 best of the best submission will be selected by a Jury comprising of experts from Industry, Academia and Government for an AI Showcase on 6th Oct 2020. More details on the AI Solution Challenge can be found at Innovate Platform.