Paris [France], February 12 : India's policy position on AI has been on the possibility of innovation and the possibility that it offers greater productivity and opportunity while being cognisant of possible harms and what can be done to mitigate them, Secretary of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), S Krishnan, said on Tuesday.
Krishnan, who addressed a press conference along with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on the second day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France, said India brought in AI into the G20 narrative as well, and part of the G20 declaration focused on what needs to happen in terms of AI and inclusive AI.
PM Modi co-chaired AI Action Summit in Paris with France President Emmanuel Macron.
Krishnan said the next AI summit will be hosted in India later this year
"The emphasis has been on innovation-driven AI. India has endorsed the leaders' statement on inclusive and sustainable AI and given a commitment to AI for the public interest which were the two major outcomes of this summit...India has supported the establishment of the AI foundation...India has also joined the coalition on sustainable AI ensuring AI's alignment with environmental and sustainable development goals," he added.
He said Global South will be adequately represented in the AI Summit to be hosted by India.
"We brought in AI into the G20 narrative as well, and part of the G20 declaration focused on what needs to happen in terms of AI and inclusive AI and even at that stage, the African Union and various other entities were brought into the G20 so it was fairly clear that we were speaking up for the Global South in this particular space...We already have MOUs with 17 countries and growing...Today, the Prime Minister spoke out that there needs to be inclusion and the Global South needs to come in...In the next summit also, which India will be hosting we will make sure that the Global South is adequately represented," he said
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said PM Modi received a very warm and enthusiastic traditional welcome from the Indian community in Paris on his arrival yesterday.
PM Modi's first engagement yesterday was a dinner hosted by President Macron in honour of the visiting heads of state and government and other heads of international organizations, tech entrepreneurs, who are in Paris for the AI Summit.
"The summit adds yet another aspect to the growing India-France strategic partnership and in keeping with our track record of cooperation in several areas," Misri said.
PM Modi also held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the AI summit with the President of Estonia, Alar Karis.
This was the first meeting between the two leaders and both of them expressed satisfaction at the growing bilateral cooperation in several fields, including especially the IT and digital sphere, and agreed to increase institutional and people-to-people engagements between the two countries.
Answering a query, Krishnan said that the government is using chatbots in a number of spaces
"We are using a number of chatbots already in a number of spaces, including in the space of agriculture. It has already been. Extensively used as part of the AgriStack programme and that has been deployed even in other areas within our DigiLocker system within our 'Umang' system where you can access a number of government programmes," he said.
"Indian chatbots have been developed and are being used. A very extensive use here is made of Bashini which currently is now available for 22 Indian languages, so it is possible to actually for a farmer or any other common citizen to seek replies or get clarifications in their own language, and that translation has been truly enabled," he added.
The AI Action Summit concluded with the adoption of the Leaders' Statement. The summit featured discussions on critical themes, including greater access to AI infrastructure to ensure inclusion, the responsible use of AI, AI for public interest, making AI more diverse and sustainable, and ensuring safe and trusted governance of AI.