The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), along with UNESCO, will organize a Stakeholder Consultation on Safety and Ethics in AI on Thursday, November 14, 2024, at the UNESCO House in New Delhi.  

The Stakeholder Consultation for Safety and Ethics in AI aims to achieve six key objectives. It will provide an overview of the INDIAai Mission, highlighting strategic goals to establish India as a global leader in safety and ethics in AI innovation and governance. Real-world applications and best practices of safety and ethics in AI deployment will be showcased, emphasizing benefits.  

Moreover, the key principles of ethics in AI will be discussed. The consultation also aims to identify comparative advantages, priorities, synergies, gaps, and challenges across the AI ecosystem. Finally, effective strategies and policy recommendations will be developed for a potential AI policy roadmap.  

The rising need for ensuring safe, ethical and responsible AI   

With rapid advances in AI in India, there is an increasing need to ensure its safe, responsible, and ethical use. While adopting AI presents transformative opportunities across sectors like healthcare, education, and financial inclusion, it also necessitates a balance between harnessing its benefits and mitigating its risks.    

Under the Safe & Trusted AI pillar of the INDIAai Mission, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has already initiated similar efforts. It aims to promote safety and ethics in AI, develop indigenous governance tools and frameworks, and provide self-assessment guidelines for innovators.     

Participants of the stakeholder consultation   

The stakeholder consultation will bring together diverse stakeholders, including government officials, industry leaders, academics, civil society representatives, and AI practitioners.    

Key Presentations   

The programme includes a presentation on the INDIAai Mission’s Safety and Trust Pillar, which will emphasize the Safe & Trusted AI pillar under the mission, and a presentation by “Responsible AI” research projects under the Indian AI Safety Institute, which highlights their work and selected research projects.   

UNESCO will discuss fundamental principles of ethics in AI and provide a comprehensive overview of UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of AI and its relevance to India’s AI landscape. It will present key aspects of its framework, highlighting universal ethical principles and their application in diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts.