India assumes chair of the global partnership on artificial intelligence

The Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar represented India virtually at the GPAI meeting held in Tokyo for the takeover from France, which is the outgoing Council Chair. 

Addressing the occasion, the minister said that India will work in close cooperation with member states to put a framework in place. “Around the framework, the power of artificial intelligence (AI) can be exploited for the good of the citizens and consumers across the globe and ensure that there are adequate guardrails to prevent misuse and user harm.” 

Chandrasekhar added that AI is a kinetic enabler to take forward current investments in technology and innovation. “India is building an ecosystem of modern cyber laws and framework that is driven by three boundary conditions of openness, safety and trust and accountability.” 

“With the national programme on AI in place, a national data governance framework policy and one of the world’s largest publicly accessible data sets programme in the works, India is committed to efficient use of AI to catalyze innovation ecosystem around AI, trusted applications for the citizens and the world at large,” the minister said. 

“The NDGFP aims to ensure equitable access to non-personal data and focus on improving the institutional framework for government data sharing, promoting principles around privacy and security by design, and encouraging the use of anonymization tool,” the ministry added. 

It also aims to standardize the government’s data collection and management. The NDGFP along with the envisaged Indian Data Management Office IDMO will catalyze the next Gen AI and Data-led research and startup ecosystem. 

“AI is expected to add USD $967 billion to Indian economy by 2035 and USD 450–500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, accounting for 10% of the country’s USD 5 trillion GDP target,” the ministry said. 

GPAI is a congregation of 25 member countries, including the US, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Singapore. India joined in 2020 as a founding member.