Ethical issues related to artificial intelligence (AI) are a global concern and India is committed to addressing these challenges through meaningful debate and responsible innovation, Minister of Health Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. electronics and information technology.
Addressing questions on AI governance and development in Parliament, he highlighted the critical challenges posed by the emerging AI landscape, social media accountability and the need for strong legal frameworks.
Vaishnaw, who is also in charge of railways and information and broadcasting, stressed the importance of balancing freedom of expression with the responsibility to combat fake news and ensure accurate stories to the digital age.
“This is a major challenge facing societies around the world: social media accountability, especially in the context of fake news and the creation of false narratives,” Vaishnaw said, emphasizing that the establishing social and legal responsibility requires significant consensus.
“These are questions where freedom of expression enters, on the one hand, and responsibility and the creation of a real information network, on the other hand. These are things that need to be debated and if the House agrees and if there is consensus across society, we can come up with a new law,” he added.
Vaishnaw also addressed concerns over AI privacy and governance and said proactive steps had been taken by the government to develop indigenous tools and technologies.
AI mission
He said that under the AI mission, one of the key pillars is application development, focusing on innovations that match India’s unique requirements. “To respond to the emerging AI landscape, we have launched eight projects aimed at creating tools and technologies in the country,” he said.
These eight projects include machine unlearning in generative core models at IIT-Jodhpur; Development of Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Bias Mitigation in Healthcare Systems at National Institute of Technology, Raipur; IIT-Delhi, IIIT-Delhi, IIT-Dharwad and Telecommunication Engineering Center (TEC) Robust privacy-preserving machine learning models; Tools to assess fairness of AI model at IIIT-Delhi and TEC.
Meanwhile, responding to a question in Parliament on the number of people registered for Future Skills, the minister mentioned that 8.6 lakh candidates have already registered for the Future Skills platform, developed in collaboration with industry partners, to provide training aligned with the latest industry requirements.
He further said that the government is focusing on decentralization of technology facilities, including empowering Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. “AI data labs are being set up in cities like Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Shimla, Aurangabad , Patna, Buxar and Muzaffarpur,” he said.
The potential of AI
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to fostering an ecosystem where startups, AI labs, 5G labs and semiconductor training centers are made accessible by ensuring that technology development is not concentrated in a few areas but spread throughout the country.
Vaishnaw also highlighted the potential of AI to positively impact various sectors, including agriculture, education, healthcare, logistics and finance, and reaffirmed India’s commitment to ‘global leadership in the responsible development of AI.
“The most important applications of AI will be in sectors that directly influence people’s lives. Agriculture, education, healthcare, logistics and the financial sector will benefit immensely from AI solutions tailored to the needs of the country,” Vaishnaw added.
