India to partner with France, others at AI summit as US, China build walls

The deal may cover aspects like sharing of resources for AI development, principles, power consumption

- Shouvik Das

The Indian government is expected to sign a multinational treaty by Tuesday at the ongoing Paris AI Action Summit being jointly chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and France's President Emmanuel Macron.

The agreement is expected to see India align with nations in the European Union, as well as others, on aspects including sharing of resources for AI development, and principles including the impact of AI on climate change and energy consumption, three people aware of the development in Paris told Mint.

A senior official at India's ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) denied that India is a part of 'Current AI'-an initiative that is investing $400 million (₹3,500 crore) on sharing datasets and processors required to build AI models.

Eight nations, including France, are a part of it, one of the officials cited above said.

It is yet unclear how many countries are expected to give their nod to a multinational agreement at the global artificial intelligence conference being held at the Grand Palais in the French capital on 10 and 11 February. More than 90 countries are participating in the summit.

The treaty, experts said, could bode well for India, and align with its own AI Mission currently spearheaded by Meity-especially in light of the US's 'America-first' approach, as well as China's advances in this nascent field.