India looks to drive consensus among global leaders on the proper and ethical use of AI, so that the technology can be harnessed for the benefit of humanity while containing harms arising out of its improper use, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday.
The minister said India expects to see investments to the tune of US $200 billion in the next two years across five layers of the Artificial Intelligence stack. The commitment of VCs in deeptech startups is visible, he said, exuding confidence that 50 deeptechs will emerge from India in the coming years.
In the next one week, the government will be placing an order for 20,000 GPUs with deployments taking place in the next six months, he said, adding that a bigger IndiaAI Mission is also in the works.
“We’ll have the summit where we will try to create a consensus among the global leaders about good, proper and right use of AI so Artificial Intelligence can be used for the benefit of humanity and while we can contain the harms which may come from improper use,” Vaishnaw said.
India has created a structure similar to DPI as part of its India AI mission. “We are expecting another 20,000 GPUs over and above the 38,000 GPUs that we already have in the common compute layer. In another one week, we will be placing orders for another 20,000 GPUs, and they will be deployed within the next six months,” the minister said at a briefing on India AI Impact Summit.
The government is constantly endeavouring to provide high-quality resources to startups, researchers and students, he added. “...our government is focused on keeping technology accessible to the entire large section of people who would like to use it,” Vaishnaw said.
‘Talks on with industry on deepfakes’
The problem of deepfakes is growing rapidly and requires stronger regulation to protect children and society at large, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday, adding that the government has begun consultations with the industry on additional safeguards beyond those already in place.
He said discussions are underway with social media platforms on tackling deepfakes and age-based restrictions, to determine the most appropriate way forward on the issue.
The minister said any company, be it Netflix, YouTube, Meta, or X, must abide by the legal framework and the Constitution of India. Vaishnaw said the problem of deepfakes is growing day by day and asserted that stronger regulation is needed.
“I think we need a much stronger regulation on deepfakes. It is a problem growing day by day. Certainly there is a need for protecting our children and our society from these harms... we have initiated a dialogue with industry on what kind of regulation will be needed beyond what we already have,” the minister said.
The parliamentary committee, too, has studied the issue in depth, he said.
“We need much stronger regulations on deepfakes and we must definitely create that consensus within Parliament for creating those significantly stronger restriction on deepfakes so society can be protected from these harms,” the Minister said at a briefing during the AI Summit.
He pointed out that many countries have accepted the need for age-based restrictions. "This is something that has been accepted by many countries, that age-based regulation has to be there. It was part of our DPDP... when we created this age-based differentiation on the content which is accessible to students and to young people. So that time itself, we took that forward-looking step,” he said.
Also read: UN body calls for greater role for women in AI
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