Editorial: Way forward on AI

The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence Summit adopting a commonly-agreed declaration is a welcome development

Artificial intelligence tools are like a double-edged weapon; they can cut both ways. While it has the potential to transform human lives at a pace never seen in history, there are also possibilities of the technology being misused to spread disinformation and chaos. The time is ripe for a coordinated global strategy to regulate the emerging sector that has a profound impact on societies. Towards this direction, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit, a congregation of 29 member nations, including the European Union, adopting a commonly-agreed declaration is a welcome development. The summit, held in Delhi, agreed to collaboratively develop AI applications in healthcare and agriculture, as well as include the needs of the Global South in the development of AI. Further, the declaration also saw participating nations agree upon using the GPAI platform to create a global framework on AI trust and safety, and make AI solutions and benefits available for all. India’s approach towards regulating AI comes as an intersection of enabling innovation, while enforcing guardrails that put checks on AI harm — a concern that India has raised at several forums. Typically, governments have lagged in innovation and allowed it to go unregulated for many years. As a result, there are big islands of commercial power which are distorting the open nature of the internet. The key issue today is that regulating anything on the internet cannot happen in silos, because it is found that in most cases the perpetrators of fraud are based in one jurisdiction while victims are in another.

Unless there is a global understanding, there’s no point in India alone having a stringent regulation in AI. The GPAI summit is a step forward towards collaboration. Though China is not part of the multilateral grouping, the GPAI is set to be positioned at the forefront of shaping the future of AI. The rapid pace of improvement in systems has led to concerns over Big Tech’s dominance and the lack of transparency. The declaration lays emphasis on the risks involved, specifically misinformation, disinformation and threats to personal data as well as human rights. It calls for developing a governance framework for AI and promoting equitable access to critical resources for innovation. For India, which is keen to push its model of digital public infrastructure across the world and play a leading role in global AI, having an inclusive mechanism is vital. AI can be as dangerous as radioactive material if it falls into the hands of bad actors. That is the incentive for nations to recognise that people with access to it can also do really bad things. No single country can play a cop in cyberspace and there is a need for a global legal framework. The GPAI will serve as an inclusive movement that will focus on bringing the benefits of AI research to all.

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