By Key Points
- The secretary of MEITY, S Krishnan claims fears around artificial intelligence are hyped up in Western countries.
- India sees AI as an economic opportunity and a job creator.
- Societal harms require regulation and guardrails for the same reasons electricity needed rules before being widespread.
- Fear is common but leads to progress when it comes to technology; this was true with railways too.
The Global AI Summit held in India on July 3-4 took a different view about the dangers and opportunities presented by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In his keynote address at the event, Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, S Krishnan highlighted that while concerns regarding AI may be well-founded, they are usually exaggerated, particularly in Western nations.
Krishnan stated that based on its strong education system and cost-effective development capabilities, India is uniquely positioned to tap into the potentials offered by AI.
“Adaptation or building of applications can be done much more cheaply here than anywhere else,” he said. This presents an ideal scenario for Indian youth who could get higher paying jobs leading to economic growth realized through this means also.
He recognized impersonation among other societal fears associated with artificial intelligence especially those related to democracy where misinformation tends to thrive most.
However, all these worries point to the need for creating regulatory frameworks that will ensure information integrity as well as safeguarding democratic rights.
“When there is a lot of fake or wrong information what you need is a mechanism that can actually identify correct information” emphasized Krishnan.
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Balancing fear against progress during the development phase for any new technology like AI
Historically people have always been afraid when new technologies come up says Mr . Krishnaan but he also noted such fears did not stop technology lovers from pushing ahead with their innovations anyway so should we expect anything different this time round given our experience vis-à-vis the industrial revolution one wonders?
Krishnan also referred to the Hollywood movie Oppenheimer which is about the development of nuclear technology being another relevant analogy considering potential dangers as well as benefits involved in AI development.
“The argument of fusion versus fission continues to exist. But in the end, we eventually adopted that technology,” he said while underscoring the need for international treaties and guidelines when dealing with new technologies.
According to Krishnan just like with previous technological breakthroughs, there must be a balanced approach towards artificial intelligence too; though it requires regulations to guide against risks at the same time more attention should be focused on how can such systems be used for economic growth or other social good.
The impact that AI could have on jobs market transformation alone within India alone cannot therefore go unnoticed as this has always been one area where people tend to take very pessimistic views about the future due lack of information concerning what might happen next if everything goes according to plans.
India’s stance on AI reflects its commitment towards continuous innovation through technology adoption while still remaining alive all possible associated risks involved in such undertakings. The world needs forums like the Global AI Summit where these opportunities will be explored alongside addressing concerns so that India achieves her ambitions safely during journeying into Artificial Intelligence age.
