‘AI shaping our polity, economy, security and society’: PM Modi co-chairs AI Action Summit in Paris (original) (raw)

PM Modi France Visit: SAYING THAT the world is at the “dawn of the AI (Artificial Intelligence) age”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called for collective efforts to establish a global framework for AI that upholds shared values, addresses risks, builds trust and ensures access to all, especially the Global South.

Co-chairing the AI Action Summit with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, Modi underlined the need for open-source systems that enhance trust and transparency, and building data sets “free from biases”. He also offered to host the next summit in India.

At a briefing later, S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said India would host the next summit. “The time is right for India to host, as the Prime Minister offered, and the offer was accepted that the next AI Summit would be hosted in India later this year,” Krishnan said.

Addressing the summit earlier in the day, the PM said: “AI is already re-shaping our polity, our economy, our security and even our society. AI is writing the code for humanity in this century. But, it is very different from other technology milestones in human history… AI is developing at an unprecedented scale and speed. And being adopted and deployed even faster. There is also a deep inter-dependence across borders. Therefore, there is a need for collective global efforts to establish governance and standards, that uphold our shared values, address risks and build trust.”

Saying that governance is not just about managing risks and rivalries, but also about promoting innovation, and deploying it for the global good, he said: “We must think deeply and discuss openly about innovation and governance. Governance is also about ensuring access to all, especially in the Global South. It is where the capacities are most lacking — be it compute power, talent, data, or the financial resources.”

Modi said that AI can help transform millions of lives by improving health, education, agriculture and so much more, it can help create a world in which the journey to Sustainable Development Goals becomes easier and faster.

“To do this, we must pool together resources and talent. We must develop open-source systems that enhance trust and transparency. We must build quality data sets, free from biases. We must democratise technology and create people-centric applications. We must address concerns related to cyber security, disinformation, and deep fakes. And, we must also ensure that technology is rooted in local ecosystems for it to be effective and useful,” he said.

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Beginning his speech with an illustrative example, he said: “If you upload your medical report to an AI app, it can explain in simple language, free of any jargon, what it means for your health. But, if you ask the same app to draw an image of someone writing with their left hand, the app will most likely draw someone writing with their right hand. Because that is what the training data is dominated by. It shows that while the positive potential of AI is absolutely amazing, there are many biases that we need to think carefully about.”

Addressing concerns on the impact on jobs, he said: “Loss of jobs is AI’s most feared disruption. But, history has shown that work does not disappear due to technology. Its nature changes and new types of jobs are created. We need to invest in skilling and re-skilling our people for an AI-driven future.”

“There is no doubt that the high energy intensity of AI needs to be looked into. This will require green power to fuel its future,” Modi said. He pointed out that India and France have worked together for years through initiatives like the International Solar Alliance.

“As we advance our partnership to AI, it is a natural progression from sustainability to innovation, to shape a smarter and responsible future. At the same time, sustainable AI does not only mean using clean energy. AI models must also be efficient and sustainable in size, data needs and resources requirements,” he said, adding, “After all, the human brain manages to compose poetry and design spaceships using less power than most light bulbs.”

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Citing India’s example, Modi said: “India has successfully built a Digital Public Infrastructure for over 1.4 billion people at a very low cost. It is built around an open and accessible network. It has regulations, and a wide range of applications to modernise our economy, reform governance and transform the lives of our people.”

“We have unlocked the power of data through our data empowerment and protection architecture. And, we have made digital commerce democratic and accessible to all. This vision is the foundation of India’s National AI Mission. That is why, during our G20 Presidency, we built a consensus on harnessing AI responsibly, for good, and for all. Today, India leads in AI adoption, and techno-legal solutions on data privacy,” Modi said.

“We are developing AI applications for public good. We have one of the world’s largest AI talent pools. India is building its own Large Language Model considering our diversity. We also have a unique public-private partnership model for pooling resources like compute power. It is made available to our start-ups and researchers at an affordable cost. And, India is ready to share its experience and expertise to ensure that the AI future is for good, and for all,” he said.

“We are at the dawn of the AI age that will shape the course of humanity. Some people worry about machines becoming superior in intelligence to humans. But, no one holds the key to our collective future and shared destiny other than us humans,” he said.

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In his concluding remarks at the end of the summit, Modi said: “Today’s discussions have brought out one thing — there is unity in vision and unity in purpose across stakeholders.” Welcoming the decision to set up the ‘AI Foundation’ and the ‘Council for Sustainable AI’, he congratulated France for these initiatives and assured India’s full support.

“We must also make the ‘Global Partnership for AI’ truly global in nature. It should be more inclusive of the Global South and its priorities, concerns and needs,” he said. “To build on the momentum of this Action Summit, India would be happy to host the next Summit,” he said.

Modi also met US Vice-President J D Vance and his Indian-American wife, Usha Vance, on the sidelines of the AI Summit. “Had a wonderful meeting with US@VP@JDVance and his family. We had a great conversation on various subjects. Delighted to join them in celebrating the joyous birthday of their son, Vivek,” Modi said in a post on X in which he shared some photos with Vance and his family.

Besides Macron and Vance, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau were among those present at the event.

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The week-long summit, which began with the ‘Science Days’ on February 6-7, followed by the ‘Cultural Weekend’ on February 8-9, culminated in a high-level segment attended by global leaders, policymakers and industry experts.

This segment commenced with a dinner hosted by Macron at the Élysée Palace on February 10 that was also attended by Modi, bringing together heads of state and government, leaders of international organisations, CEOs of major AI companies and other participants.

Modi also met Estonian President Alar Karis on the sidelines of the summit. This was the first meeting between the two leaders. They discussed the ongoing bilateral cooperation in the field of cyber security.