India and US cooperation in technology is achieving new altitudes after the joint session of the US Congress for the second time. While addressing the joint session, PM Modi said, “A lot has changed since I came here seven summers ago. But a lot has remained the same - like our commitment to deepen the friendship between India and the United States. In the past few years, there have been many advances in AI - Artificial Intelligence. At the same time, there have been even more momentous developments in another AI- America and India.”

Building a technology partnership for future

As per the White House factsheet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden acknowledged AI’s immense opportunities and potential by addressing its crucial risks. Both are committed to developing joint and international collaboration on responsible and trustworthy AI, which includes generative AI, in order to enhance AI education and workforce initiatives, boost commercial opportunities and mitigate AI discrimination and bias.

Many nations, including the US, back India’s leadership as chair of the Global Partnership on AI. The leaders gathered applauded Google’s intention to continue investing through its $10 billion India Digitization Fund, such as early-stage Indian start-ups. With its AI Research Centre in India, Google is developing its models to preserve over 100 Indian languages.

According to the Times of India, the steps for cooperation on technology, space, and supply chain have been spelt out. The Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) was considered an important milestone in bilateral relations. Government agencies, private sectors, and academic institutions were called on to do their best to realise the objectives of strategic partnerships. The interagency-led Strategic Trade Dialogue in June 2023 was launched to address export controls, explore ways of enhancing high-technology commerce, and facilitate technology transfer between the two countries. The two countries set a course to reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation.

MoU on Semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership

An MoU on Semiconductor Supply Chain and Innovation Partnership was signed to promote commercial opportunities, research, talent, and skill development. Micron Technology, Inc., announced that it would invest up to $ 825 million to build a new semiconductor assembly and test facility in India. Two Joint Task Forces on advanced telecommunications focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies were also launched.

A joint program for development and commercialization of AI and quantum technologies

Both leaders announced an establishment of a Joint Indo-U.S. Quantum Coordination Mechanism to facilitate collaboration among industry, academia, and government, to work toward a comprehensive Quantum Information Science and Technology agreement was announced. The leaders welcomed the launch of a $2million grant program under the U.S.-India Science and Technology Endowment fund for the joint development and commercialization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies, and encouraged public-private collaborations to develop high performance computing (HPC) facilities in India.

President Biden also reiterated his government’s commitment to work with U.S. Congress to lower barriers to U.S. exports to India of HPC technology and source code.  The U.S. side pledged to make its best efforts in support of India’s Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) joining the U.S. Accelerated Data Analytics and Computing (ADAC) Institute. 

Participation in Quantum Entanglement Exchange and Quantum Economic Development Consortium

The United States welcomes India’s participation in the Quantum Entanglement Exchange and in the Quantum Economic Development Consortium to facilitate expert and commercial exchanges with leading, like-minded quantum nations. The United States and India will sustain and grow quantum training and exchange programs and work to reduce barriers to U.S.-India research collaboration. 

During the event, US President Joe Biden gave a special t-shirt to PM Modi, which bore the quote, “The Future is AI”, with the second line saying, “America & India”, denoting the strong partnership between the two biggest democratic countries in the era of Artificial Intelligence. 

Chandrajit Banerjee, CII Directory General, claimed that PM Modi’s visit to the US has helped in successfully laying a solid foundation for further strengthening the Indo-US relationship. Banerjee stated, “A new chapter has been added to the partnership that will see a much stronger collaboration in strategic technology collaboration, including defence, semiconductor, and space and in emerging technology sectors like AI and quantum, advanced materials, biotechnology, and telecommunications”.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, AMD CEO Lisa Su, and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams were among the American representatives who participated in the meeting.

Reuters