The government is preparing to launch the India AI programme shortly, according to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.

 

“The India AI programme will be a very well-funded, conceived and architected programme,” said Chandrasekhar virtually at the Nasscom Future Forge event 2023. “It will (take) the focus of our startup ecosystem on real-life use cases in agriculture, security and governance.”

 

The programme may be launched on December 11, according to industry sources. India will host a three-day global summit from December 12 related to AI in New Delhi. The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) summit will focus on various critical aspects of AI, including responsible AI, data governance, the future of work, and innovation and commercialisation, as per business standard. 

 

"We hope the New Delhi Declaration will take forward the Bletchley Declaration in a more harmonised way," said Chandrasekhar. “This is being (done) through growth, expansion, innovation and investment, as well as safety and trust.”

 

The minister recently visited the AI Safety Summit 2023, which was held at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, and was attended by 28 countries, including the United States and China. The nations that attended the meeting agreed on "The Bletchley Declaration." 

 

“Tech must be maximised for its good, innovation and growth,” said Chandrasekhar. “But certainly there have to be guardrails that deal with safety and trust and accountability of the tech platforms.”

 

However, there is a distinction between India's approach and that of other countries. Some governments, he claims, are still attempting to demonize AI.