India is hosting an artificial intelligence (AI) summit this week, bringing together heads of state, senior officials and tech executives to New Delhi for a five-day gathering highlighting the growing global importance of the technology.
Organizers said the India AI Impact Summit is the first such summit being held in the “Global South” to discuss the technology developed and dominated by wealthy companies based in rich countries. It comes at a pivotal moment as AI rapidly transforms economies, reshapes labor markets and raises questions around regulations, security and ethics.
From generative AI tools that can produce text and images to advanced systems used in defense, health care and climate modeling, AI has become a central focus for governments and corporations across the world.
Photo: AP
The summit, previously held in France, the UK and South Korea, has evolved far beyond its modest beginnings as a meeting tightly focused on the safety of cutting-edge AI systems into an all-purpose jamboree trade fair in which safety is just one aspect.
Indian officials said the country’s experience in building large-scale digital public infrastructure, including digital identity and payment platforms, offers a model for deploying AI at scale while keeping costs low.
“The goal is clear: AI should be used for shaping humanity, inclusive growth and a sustainable future,” Indian Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The summit began yesterday, with 20 heads of state and government expected, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to address a session on Thursday.
Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, Qualcomm Inc CEO Cristiano Amon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft Corp president Brad Smith and AMI Labs executive chairman Yann LeCun are also expected to attend.
Indian executives are hoping the summit will reflect the country’s recognition as an enabler of national capabilities, economic resilience and long-term capabilities.
“As India continues on the journey to become a developed nation by 2047, AI has a critical role to play in strengthening large-scale systems, from energy and manufacturing to public infrastructure,” Renew Energy Global PLC chief executive Sumant Sinha said.
Like previous editions, the India AI Impact Summit is not expected to result in a joint binding political agreement. It is more likely that the event could end with a non-binding pledge or declaration on goals for AI development.
Last year’s edition, the Paris AI Action Summit, was dominated by US Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech in which he rebuked European efforts to curb AI’s risks by warning global leaders and tech industry executives against “excessive regulation” that could hobble the rapidly growing AI industry.
Ahead of the India meeting, a panel of experts released a second annual safety report on the risks posed by the most advanced AI systems, including through misuse, malfunctions and so-called systemic risks.
AI governance efforts are also under way elsewhere, including at the UN, which last year adopted a resolution to set up two key bodies on AI — a global forum and an independent scientific panel of experts.
“The whole point of this report is to build an international consensus on the state of the science regarding the emerging risks of AI,” said Yoshua Bengio, a prominent scientist known as one of the “Godfathers of AI” who led the study. “It’s really important that the world will continue to have a strong independent scientific evaluation of the risks.”
Like elsewhere, there have been concerns in India about AI’s adverse effect on jobs across technology and allied sectors, but experts point to reskilling to hedge risks.
“There is a lot of genuine concern around this theme, and I don’t want to underestimate this impact. But, from an Indian lens, emphasis is on re-skilling programs and as AI becomes much more mainstream, you will also see newer job roles coming up,” said Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice president at Nasscom, a prominent body representing India’s technology industry.
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