Paris ai summit pm modi urges democratising tech says 'ai writing code for humanity'

Paris ai summit pm modi urges democratising tech says 'ai writing code for humanity'

New Delhi: Artificial intelligence (AI) is writing the code for humanity in this century, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday in Paris. There is a need for democratising technology, creating people centric applications and addressing concerns related to cybersecurity, disinformation and deepfakes, he said in his address at the inaugural AI Action Summit, co-hosted by India and France.

He also announced that India will host the next summit.

In his opening statement as cochair, Modi said, “AI is developing at unprecedented scale and speed, and being adopted and deployed even faster. There is also a deep interdependence 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.”

Governance, however, is not just about managing risks and rivalries, the PM said at the high-level segment of the week-long event that brought together leaders, policymakers and industry experts.

“It is also about promoting innovation and deploying it for the global good. So, we must think and discuss openly about innovation and governance,” he said.

Modi also pitched making technology available to the Global South. “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 financial resources,” he said.

Calling for making the ‘Global Partnership for AI’ truly so in nature, he said, “It should be more inclusive of the Global South and its priorities, concerns and needs.” Referring to India’s artificial intelligence programme, 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 startups and researchers at an affordable cost. And India is ready to share its experience and expertise to ensure the AI future is for good, and for all.”

He pointed out that AI can help transform millions of lives by improving health, education and agriculture, and can help create a world in which the journey to (the United Nations’ 17) Sustainable Development Goals becomes easier and faster.

“To do this, we must pool together resources and talent,” said the PM. “We must develop opensource systems that enhance trust and transparency… (and) build quality data sets, free from biases. We must democratise technology, create people-centric applications and address concerns related to cybersecurity, disinformation and deepfakes. And we must also ensure technology is rooted in local ecosystems for it to be effective and useful.”

Underscoring the importance of investment in skilling and reskilling, 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 reskilling our people for an AI-driven future.”

KEEPING IT OPEN & ACCESSIBLE

Modi said, “India and France have worked together for years through initiatives like the International Solar Alliance to harness the power of the sun. As we advance our partnership to AI, it is a natural progression from sustainability to innovation to shape a smarter and responsible future.”

He added, “Sustainable AI does not only mean using clean energy. AI models must also be efficient and sustainable in size, data needs and resource requirements. After all, the human brain manages to compose poetry and design spaceships using less power than most lightbulbs.”

The Prime Minister pointed out that India has successfully built a Digital Public Infrastructure for more than 1.4 billion people at a very low cost.