India's challenging AI predicament

Hobbled by lack of innovation and AI skills in its crucial technology sector, India is focusing on a ruinous plan to host data centres

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THE HUGELY hyped AI Impact Summit in February turned out to be all that it was promised to be—a jamboree with thousands thronging the venue to get a peek at the future, epic traffic jams that paralysed New Delhi and an event that was overshadowed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his philosophy of what AI or artificial intelligence should be and the role India would play globally in this cutting-edge technology. It did not matter that Bill Gates pulled out as the keynote speaker, or that Sarvam AI, the front-runner in India's race to have its own foundational AI model, failed to evoke any excitement. What the summit did deliver was a trademark Modi acronym and a disastrous business plan to make India a hub of the world's data centres. It revealed a deep schism between the two objectives.

So we got MANAV, a “framework based on human values”. Described as the PM's vision for AI, it stands for moral and ethical systems; accountable governance; national sovereignty; accessible and inclusive; and valid and legitimate principles. The main aim is to transform AI from being machine-centric to being human-centric and to “make it sensitive and responsive” and to ensure “the welfare of all, the happiness of all”, as he explained in an interview to ANI news agency. It is not such an original idea. Since 2017, the UN has been running an initiative called AI for Good—Unlocking AI's Potential to Serve Humanity. This is a collaborative effort spearheaded by International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the specialised agency for digital technologies, along with 53 other UN organisations. Not many here appear to be aware of this project.