Global INDIAai Summit 2024 Kicks Off in New Delhi with Focus on AI Democratization and Collaboration

Shri Jitin Prasada underscored India's readiness to lead global AI innovation, citing the country's high AI skill penetration and substantial investments in AI startups.

The two-day Global INDIAai Summit 2024 commenced today at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. The opening ceremony was attended by prominent dignitaries including the Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Railways, and Information & Broadcasting, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw; Vice Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, Mr. Hiroshi Yoshida; Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, and Commerce & Industry, Shri Jitin Prasada; Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Shri S Krishnan; President of NASSCOM, Ms. Debjani Ghosh; Vice President of OpenAI, Mr. Srinivas Narayanan; and Additional Secretary of MeitY, Shri Abhishek Singh.

The summit saw participation from Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) experts, delegates, industry and startup veterans, AI practitioners, academicians, students, and officials from Central and State Governments.

Addressing the gathering, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted the Government of India's commitment to democratizing technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI), ensuring accessibility for all. He emphasized the government's plans to invest in AI-focused public platforms that encourage innovation and competitive collaboration. Shri Vaishnaw also discussed AI developments in Japan, the European Union, the USA, and the UN, while cautioning about the risks posed by AI to democratic communities, advocating for responsible and human-centered AI.

Mr. Hiroshi Yoshida commended India’s commitment to responsible AI, emphasizing the significance of hosting GPAI. He noted Japan's establishment of the Tokyo Centre of GPAI and its collaboration with India as part of the global south.

Shri Jitin Prasada underscored India's readiness to lead global AI innovation, citing the country's high AI skill penetration and substantial investments in AI startups. He reiterated the INDIAai mission's goal to make AI in India and for India, focusing on key sectors like healthcare, agriculture, and education.

Shri S Krishnan stressed the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach for AI adoption at scale, highlighting AI’s potential to benefit communities and prevent user harm, aligning with India's vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

Mr. Srinivas Narayanan expressed OpenAI's interest in partnering with INDIAai, sharing AI use-cases like Digital Green in agriculture, Bhashini in language processing, and physics wallah in education.

Ms. Debjani Ghosh outlined three truths about AI: its transformational impact, the need to reconcile investment with returns, and the human-driven aspect of AI. She expressed hope that INDIAai would set a gold standard for inclusive and human-centric AI.

Mr. Abhishek Singh welcomed the dignitaries and delegates, briefly explaining the INDIAai Mission. He outlined the agenda of 12 sessions over two days, covering the mission's seven pillars and discussing the way forward from multiple perspectives.

Day One Sessions:

Side Session 1: IndiaAI - Large Language Models

Keynote by Mr. Srinivas Narayanan, Vice President, Open AI. Panelists discussed the complexity and need for trillion tokens to deliver high-quality LLMs tailored for India, emphasizing multi-models, conversational to actionable AI, synthetic data, and miniaturization.

Side Session 2: GPAI Convening on Global Health and AI

Keynote by Dr. Kartik Adapa, WHO. Panelists addressed regulatory and policy issues, healthcare datasets, data protection, privacy, community health, mental health, and societal issues in the global south.

Side Session 3: IndiaAI - Real World AI Solutions

Keynote by Mr. Jayesh Ranjan and Sh. Sanket S Bhondve. Panelists discussed AI adoption, AI divide, scaling solutions, and security concerns.

Side Session 4: India’s Infrastructure Readiness for AI

Keynote by Mr. Thomas Zacharia. Panelists focused on sovereignty, compliance, digital autonomy, computational resources, cost-effective GPU services, investment, PARAM series supercomputers, and skilled resources.

Side Session 5: Ensuring Safety, Trust, and Governance in the AI Age

Keynote by Shri. S. Krishnan. Panelists explored legal and security issues, responsible AI use, open-source technologies, and public datasets.

Side Session 6: Collaborative AI on Global Partnership (CAIGP)

Keynote by Mr. Rohit Rathish. Panelists discussed disparities between the Global North and South, global governance mechanisms, democratizing AI through DPI, and AI standards.

The summit’s proactive discussions and collaborations are expected to pave the way for robust AI solutions, addressing global challenges and fostering an inclusive AI ecosystem.