PM Modi Calls For Worldwide Framework For Ethical Use Of Artificial Intelligence

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday highlighted the global threat posed by terrorists wielding artificial intelligence tools, highlighting the need for a global ethical framework in artificial intelligence (AI) usage, at the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence Summit. This comes amid the Centre’s deepfake crackdown in motion. Addressing the summit, he remarked that while AI has the potential to be the foremost tool for 21st-century development, but it also holds the capacity to become a destructive force in this era.

PM Modi mentioned that during its G20 presidency, India had proposed creating a responsible, human-centric governance framework for AI.

“Besides the challenge of deepfakes, cyber security, and data theft, AI tools falling in the hands of terrorists pose a big threat. Global security will face a big threat if AI-laced weapons were to reach terrorist organisations. We have to deliberate on this issue and reach a concrete plan to stop the misuse of AI,” the PM was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

“Just like we have agreements and protocols for various international issues, we have to create a global framework for the ethical use of AI. This will include a protocol for testing and deployment of high-risk and frontier AI tools,” he added.

India is committed to the responsible and ethical use of artificial intelligence, he noted, while adding that privacy concerns will get addressed if data is secured.

The PM emphasised that AI holds the potential to revolutionise sectors such as healthcare and contribute significantly to sustainable development. However, caution is essential. The trajectory of AI development should align with human and democratic values, and addressing ethical, economic, and social concerns is crucial to build trust in AI.

PM Modi further said that AI has to be made all-inclusive as only then it will yield more inclusive results. AI, he said, is not just new technology but a worldwide movement.

Calling for safe and trusted AI, he said deliberations should focus on how to make AI-generated information credible.

Notably, the government is on an unwavering commitment to protecting citizens from misinformation, especially that originating from artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes. Earlier last month, the Centre set deepfake crackdown in motion, with the Rajeev Chandrasekhar saying that the IT ministry and the Centre will nominate a rule seven officer and will take 100 per cent compliance from all the platforms, in a bid to deal with the so-called synthetic content and deefake online.

Meanwhile, Union Information, Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has also said that regulations will be formed to check the spread of deepfakes on social media platforms, and deemed them a “new threat to democracy”.