Editorial: End AI duopoly

There is a need for equitable access to AI to avoid perpetuating a digital divide that is already existing across the world

Unless Europe and other countries pull up their socks, simplify and reform their regulatory systems and facilitate innovation in a big way, the artificial intelligence (AI) sector will continue to be in the grip of duopoly — domination by the United States and China. The Paris AI Summit, now underway, faces the urgent task of formulating strategies and action plans to harness the technology for larger public good and ensure digital equality. The summit, being co-chaired by French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, coincides with massive tremors being felt by the AI industry following the entry of the Chinese startup, ‘DeepSeek’, whose low-cost, open-source AI model threatens to end American domination. The Heads of State, tech czars and policymakers from nearly 100 countries have gathered in Paris for the two-day summit that comes at an inflexion point for the industry. Establishing the rules of the game to ensure a level playing field for innovations and charting a collaborative governance template must be top on the agenda. It will be a test of skills for world leaders, industry honchos and experts to arrive at a broad consensus on how to harness the rapidly advancing technology, without compromising on the safety aspects. There is a need for equitable access to AI to avoid perpetuating a digital divide that is already existing across the world. The Paris Summit aims to achieve three major objectives: Provide access to independent, safe and reliable AI to a wide range of users; develop AI that is more environmentally friendly; and ensure global governance of artificial intelligence that is both effective and inclusive.

It will focus on five major themes, including public service AI, the future of work, innovation and culture, trust in AI, and global governance of AI. The summit is expected to announce a key outcome — a foundation that will look at AI in the public interest to cater to the needs of the Global South. It is the third in a series of global AI summits. The first two — held in Britain in 2023 and in South Korea last year — were more focused on the potential risks and harms of advanced AI systems. Now, the focus is more on tapping the potential of AI technology to accelerate progress in areas like medicine and climate science. By using more efficient training techniques and clever engineering hacks to build their models at a fraction of the cost of the American models, DeepSeek has shown that all countries can be part of the AI revolution. On its part, India has announced its plans to build a domestic version of the Large Language Model (LLM). However, the road ahead is full of hurdles. The challenge for India is to not just play catch-up, but also to grab the opportunity that the production of advanced AI models at low costs presents.

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