Democratizing artificial intelligence (AI) should be India’s priority as the world’s most populous country, a top minister and ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told RT India.
Nara Lokesh, the information and technology minister of the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, said India’s AI mission has a clear mandate: the technology’s effective use at the grassroots level.
“We don’t look at AI as a profit-making machine,” he said in the latest episode of ‘India, Russia and The World’ podcast. “But we look at AI at the scale of 1.4 billion people using it, using it effectively and enhancing their livelihoods.”
The AI mission aims to bring in the physical infrastructure and build local models, while exploring how to use the technology to effectively improve outcomes for citizens, he said.
Lokesh argued AI should not remain a product for the elite or create a greater digital divide.
“It should help the farmer… it should help the street vendor… it should help the taxi driver, or the auto driver. And that’s when you would have really unlocked the value of AI,” he said.
“Some countries look at profiting from it, some countries look at regulating it. I believe India, given its scale, should democratize AI.”
“Every family should either actively use AI or create a use case for AI,” he said.
Lokesh was in Russia earlier this month to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
“We looked at how AI on cameras was used effectively to prevent crime and even collaboration in urban transportation” in Moscow, he said. A delegation would visit the Russian capital in August to study the city transportation system, he added.
Lokesh said his state is looking at how it can attract shipbuilding industries, noting India’s exploration of opportunities linked to the Arctic shipping route.
“We are very strategically based on the eastern seaboard.”
Indian shipyards are building four non-nuclear icebreaker ships to navigate the harsh waters of the Arctic route.