As AI raises concerns about ethics and its societal implications, India aims to adopt a balanced approach to AI, said Prof Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. He was speaking at the National Stakeholder Workshop on Safe, Trusted and Ethical AI hosted by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) South Asia Regional Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). 

Sood also spoke about India’s AI initiatives, such as the India AI mission to foster the development and adoption of AI. “Globally, UNESCO has played a commendable role in promoting ethics of AI across the world and getting UNESCO Member States to support the UNESCO Recommendation on Ethics of AI is a great example”, he added.

The Workshop featured participation from senior level officials from various Central Line Ministries, State Governments, NITI Aayog and Industry partners such as NASSCOM, ensuring a broad representation of perspectives. 

Extensive dialogue on the concept of safe and trusted AI, its ethical implications and the societal impact of AI technologies were deliberated upon through panel discussions with breakout group sessions on India harnessing ethical implementation of AI. Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MeitY stated that the word ethics should be defined in terms of building a safe and trusted AI which will not result in user harm; which will result in ensuring a framework that will promote innovation and that will restrict the risks that are related to AI.

The AI is expected to add nearly $500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, driven by advancements in various sectors such as healthcare, financial services, and telecommunications. To support this vision, MeitY has been entrusted with the responsibility of leading the India AI Mission. This mission is set to further catalyze technological self-reliance across the nation through its key components, including the IndiaAI Compute Capacity, IndiaAI Innovation Centre (IAIC), IndiaAI Datasets Platform, IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, IndiaAI FutureSkills, IndiaAI Startup Financing, and Safe & Trusted AI.

The event was also attended by Debjani Ghosh, President NASSCOM; Prakash Kumar, CEO at Wadhwani Centre for Government Digital Transformation; James Wright, Programme Specialist, Section for Bioethics and the Ethics of Science and Technology, UNESCO Headquarters; Joe Hironaka, Regional Advisor for Communication and Information, UNESCO Regional Office, Bangkok; Jian Xi Teng, Programme Specialist, Education, UNESCO South Asia Regional Office and Eunsong Kim, Programme Specialist, UNESCO South Asia Regional Office.

Source:

PIB