While Artificial intelligence (AI) can bring a lot of opportunities in social transformation, inclusion and empowerment in areas like healthcare, agriculture, education and smart mobility, among other sectors, we must also protect it from interfering in human intelligence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday.

Speaking at the Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) Summit 2020, he said, “We must protect the world against the weaponization of AI by non-State actors. While we discuss AI, let us have no doubts that human creativity and human emotions continue to be our greatest strength. They are a unique advantage over machines. Even the smartest of AI cannot solve mankind’s problem without blending with our intellect and empathy.”

He urged everyone to also think of how we will retain this intellectual age over machines and ensure that we take care so that human intelligence is always a few steps ahead of AI.

“We should think about how AI can help humans to increase their own capacities…AI will unlock the unique potential of each person, it will empower them to contribute more effectively to the society,” he said adding that algorithm transparency is key to establishing trust in how AI is used and it remains our collective responsibility to ensure it.

A big role for AI

Modi listed the sectors in which he envisions a big role for AI – agriculture, creating next-generation urban infrastructure, addressing urban issues like reducing traffic jams, improving sewage systems and laying energy grids, making disaster management systems stronger and solving the problem of climate change.

He suggested using AI to seamlessly bridge language barriers and preserve the diversity of languages and dialects. He also suggested using AI for knowledge sharing. The PM also wished India to become a global hub for AI and hoped many more Indians would start working on this in the times to come.

Data regulation

Speaking at the event, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said he was confident that the government would introduce a sound data regulation framework to protect national resources of ‘digital capital’ and ensure data privacy.

He said the time is ripe, and the tools are ready to make India a world leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and to make AI work for all Indians, it is important to understand the epoch-changing importance of AI.

“The advent of modern Artificial Intelligence is comparable only to the birth of intelligent life on our planet. In the coming decades, the total non-biological intelligence will exceed the rational intelligence of the entire human population,” Ambani said.

Having said that he also said this does not mean that AI will replace the human mind. “It never can. It never will. Rather, AI and other associated technologies of the fourth Industrial Revolution will vastly expand our capacity to solve the most complex and pressing problems before India and the world.”

Specifically, AI will enable India to move faster towards achieving the ambitious goals set by the PM including transforming India into a high growth economy on its path to $5 trillion, making Indian industry and small businesses Atmanirbhar and dominating new global value, and modernising Indian agriculture and multiplying incomes of farmers.

IBM to set up CoE with GeM

Similarly, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said that AI can solve deep societal problems in India, and the company is ready to work with the government in various projects.

At the same time, the company is also setting up a centre of excellence in partnership with government e-marketplace (GeM).

“Our goal is to apply the power of AI to improve usability and transparency and drive efficiency in cost saving in public procurement,” Krishna said.

As per studies done by Accenture, AI has the potential to raise India’s annual growth rate by 1.3 percentage points and add $957 billion to India’s economy by 2035.

According to official data, more than 38,700 stakeholders from academia, the research industry, and government representatives from 125 countries have registered to participate in RAISE 2020, organized by the government.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reiterated that the government will soon unveil a new cybersecurity policy.

During his speech from the Red Fort on the 74th Independence Day, Modi said that India is alert, cautious and is taking decisions to counter cyber threats and is constantly developing new systems.

The draft of National Cyber Security Strategy 2020, that envisages creating a secure cyberspace in India, is ready and is likely to be finalised this year.

“The threats from cyberspace can endanger all these aspects of Indian life. The government is alert to this threat and is taking all the necessary action,” Modi said.

The government recently banned several Chinese apps to protect the personal data of the Indian users.

As nation-state bad actors from countries like China, Russia and Pakistan amid the demand to keep the data of Indians to remain within the boundaries of the country, the government has envisioned the “National Cyber Security Strategy 2020”.

“Cyber intrusions and attacks have increased in scope and sophistication targeting sensitive personal and business data, and critical information infrastructure, with impact on national economy and security. The present cyber threat landscape poses significant challenges due to rapid technological developments such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, lnternet of Things, 5G, etc,” according to the draft.

“New challenges include data protection/privacy, law enforcement in evolving cyberspace, access to data stored overseas, misuse of social media platforms, international cooperation on cybercrime & cyber terrorism, and so on”.

Digitisation in India will dramatically rise in a post COVID-19 scenario which in turn will increase demand for greater cybersecurity and privacy, according to experts.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, as businesses are still coping up, cybersecurity is being seen as a core technology to keep companies secure as they go online and virtual, and as emerging deep tech such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain evolves, investment in cybersecurity will be a key differentiator for companies offering such services.

“We have joined hands with DSCI (the Data Security Council of India) in establishing a National Centre of Excellence to accelerate innovation and make India an attractive cybersecurity market,” Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said recently.

Ransomware-related cyber attacks on the Indian enterprises saw a significant rise in the first three months of the year, and the increase has been enabled by operators offering ransomware as a service (RaaS) to cyber attackers.

The report from Global cyber security major K7 Computing also found that Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad recorded the highest rate of infections amongst Tier-I cities.

Guwahati, Jaipur and Jammu had the highest infection rate of 38 per cent each, followed by Patna at 35 per cent among Tier-II cities.

One in two Indian companies have experienced a data breach involving the loss or theft of more than 1,000 records containing sensitive or confidential customer or business information in the past two years and the Covid-19 has only accelerated the cyber attacks, according to Sandip Patel, General Manager, IBM India/South Asia.

For 46 per cent of Indian firms, data breaches led to significant disruption to their IT and business processes, according to a recent global survey conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM Security.

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Balaji Mitra, the CEO of Mitra Robot, a humanoid robot designed and developed by his startup venture Invento Robotics has complained to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal that his company’s robots bound for the US customers have been held in the Bengaluru International Airport’s customs for four weeks.  

Mitra in a tweet on August 8 Mitra said, “Dear @PiyushGoyal Ji our robots bound for USA customers have been held in BLR customs for 4 weeks. How can we become a major exporter with such red tape? How do you expect Indian companies to be taken seriously by global customers?”

He also blamed the United Parcel Service (UPS), a US-based package delivery company, for being “equally irresponsible in handling this.”

Founded in 2016, Invento Robotics is a robotic company headquartered in Bengaluru. It came into the limelight in late-2017 when a five-foot-tall bot named Mitra developed by Invento Robotics greeted Ivanka Trump at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Hyderabad.

The humanoid was programmed with facial and speech recognition technologies to greet dignitaries, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the event.

This was a turning point for the company, which gained visibility and also got its bank loan approved. Soon after, it also started corporate orders from the world over. Its promise of “made-in-India” robots intrigued Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) of companies across the world who invited Invento to give demonstrations of its products in their respective countries.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged business leaders and technocrats to build a ‘bridge’ between the artificial intelligence (AI) and human intentions, while stating that his government is using technology to effectively deliver the benefits of welfare schemes to targeted groups.

Addressing a gathering of several top business leaders including Ratan Tata, Prime Minister Modi said technology should be used to uplift the life of the poor and the marginalised sections of the society in the country.

“There should not be a debate on the dangers of artificial intelligence, but there should debate as to when the robot will be smarter than the human. There should be a debate as to how a bridge can be made between artificial intelligence and human intentions,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi said that a section of people are working to project technology as anti-people and asserted that technology only benefits humanity if it is used with good intentions.

“There is a major attempt to demoralise technology. An environment of fear is being built. In the context of India, technology is being projected as a challenge for our demographic dividend,” he said.

He said: “Technology unites, not divides. It is a multiplier of talent force, not a threat. Technology makes a bridge between aspirations and achievements and between demand and delivery. Technology is a strong medium to realise the dream of Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas.”

Asserting that his government has been using technology to smoothly deliver government schemes on the ground, the Prime Minister said the Centre used several modern technologies including AI, digital mapping, real-time monitoring, and data intelligence to distribute eight crores new LPG connections under Ujjawal Scheme within three years time to the targeted beneficiaries.

“We first located 17,000 LPG distribution centres through data intelligence and set up 10,000 new centres in a very short span of time. We also took the help of space technology,” he said.

The Prime Minister also outlined that his government has used technology to remove silos amongst government departments and build a bridge between supply system and demand, through innovative ideas like Government e-market Place.

Prime Minister Modi was speaking on the occasion of the unveiling of the book titled ‘Bridgital Nation,’ which he termed as a ‘visionary document.’ The book has been written by N Chandrasekaran and Roopa Purushothanman and focuses on tackling the problem of a gap between demand and supply through technology.

According to a press release issued by the PIB, several diplomats including Ambassadors of the US, the UK and China, Secretaries of several ministries, representatives of industry bodies including CII, FICCI and NASSCOM, senior journalists Smita Prakash, Rajat Sharma, Navika Kumar, Rajkamal Jha, and Sudhir Chaudhary were present on the occasion.

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