We’re At The Dawn Of AI Age That Will Shape The Course Of Humanity: PM Modi

Reiterating his vision and bullishness on artificial intelligence at the inaugural AI Action Summit held in Paris, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a need of global collaboration to establish governance and standards that uphold shared values.

The PM called for global leaders to pull together resources and talent to build quality AI datasets free from biases to better formulate people centric applications. He also opined that AI must address concerns related to cybersecurity, disinformation and deepfakes and the tech must be more grounded in local ecosystems for it to be more effective. 

“AI is already reshaping our polity, economy, security and our society. AI is writing the code for humanity in this century but it is very different from other technology milestones in human history,” he added. 

He also implored national leaders present at the Summit to “deeply and openly” discuss innovation and governance pertaining to AI. Further, he pointed out the nascent tech can help transform millions of lives by improving health, education, agriculture and so much more. 

As of now, the PM said that India leads in AI adoption and techno legal solutions on data privacy. “India is building its own large language model (LLM), considering its diversity. We are developing AI applications for public good. We have the world’s largest AI talent pool,” the PM claimed. 

India’s bid to build its own LLM was first revealed by union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who recently said that India plans to build its own foundational AI model in the next 10 months. The minister also said that the government will make available 18,000 high-end GPU-based compute facilities for AI development to entities across the country in the next couple of days, which will enable the development of the AI model.

While the country’s leader focussed on the benefits that humanity can extract from AI, the Indian Economic Survey 2024-25 highlighted the immense job disruption threat the tech can pose on the country’s job market. 

Highlighting researches from the International Monetary Fund, the International Labour Organisation, Goldman Sachs, among others, the Economic Survey said that AI-led automation can prove to be challenging for the Indian economy and the labour market. 

It also called for developing robust institutions to protect the country’s labour market from AI’s disruption. Meanwhile, Modi in Paris also emphasised on developing upskilling mechanisms for the workforce to reap the benefits of the nascent tech. 

“AI’s most feared disruption is loss of jobs but history has shown that work does not disappear due to technology, its nature changes and new types of jobs are created. We need to invest in skilling and reskilling our people for an AI-driven future,” he said.