How India Will Continue to be AI’s Wild West
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently acknowledged AI’s contribution in drafting the 2024 BJP manifesto. “I contacted all the universities, different NGOs, and about 15-20 lakh people gave their inputs. Then I took the help of AI and classified them subject-wise,” he said in a recent interview, on the thought process behind the manifesto. He said that his team made ample use of AI, specifically in trying to ascertain how achievable their goals were, stating, “As soon as the elections are over, it will be sent to the states. I would like the states to work on it.” The prime minister’s party, BJP, has cemented its position as being more tech-inclined than most parties in the country, maybe even the world, and they aren’t hesitant about taking full credit for the industry surrounding AI in India. In another interview, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the sole reason for India’s move towards Industry 4.0 was the government laying the groundwork for the same over the past five years. “India’s industry will move to the 4.0 phase on the back of several steps that have been taken between 2019 and 2024, such as giving an emphasis for artificial intelligence, setting up new centres of excellence, making sure 6G capability is brought in India completely indigenously, and 5G being successfully rolled out in this country,” she said. However, it is well-known that while India’s industry is booming, the infrastructure and government involvement is still lacking, especially when encouraging indigenous innovations. While AI has stagnated as a novelty amongst the general Indian population, advancements across the world seem to originate from India, but primarily from its private sector. What has become a growing need, however, is an underlying and central framework to support these developments. So, is it likely that this framework will come in the next few years, or will the Indian government continue taking a backseat regardless of a regime change? What Offerings Do the Parties Bring to the Table? Amidst much finger-pointing and accusations of AI-use during campaigning, both major parties released their manifestos. Needless to say, neither party had much to say about how they plan on growing the industry. At least not more than what they’ve said already. While in their previous manifesto, BJP made bold claims of pushing for Industry 5.0 through specific AI and quantum missions, their implementations are lacklustre at best. Despite a booming industry, the government has lacked in introducing overarching frameworks. Major changes have only come to fruition in minor and niche ways like initiatives affecting thousands of people in a country of billions, with the closest overarching initiative being IndiaAI, or novelty uses like NaMo AI. With their newest manifesto, the party has promised less, with a vague assurance to “develop a comprehensive ecosystem” and focus on indigenous development. Though, whether this will continue to be developed through use of already existing models, or through India-made models is uncertain. Meanwhile, the new Indian National Congress’ manifesto is similarly vague and underwhelming, promising to “support the use of Artificial Intelligence”, while ensuring job opportunities in sectors that use “conventional technology”. In 2019, INC proposed initiatives like strengthening patent laws to protect Indian inventors and enhancing India Inclusive Innovation Fund, potentially giving a leg up to AI innovators. But, much like the BJP manifesto, it’s hard to tell whether these plans would have been implemented or not. And if they did, we can’t be sure if they’d be done sincerely or just to tick off a list of overpromising manifesto points. Increased Interest May Not Necessarily Be Good While Indians have managed to pull in many firsts within the industry, it’s unsurprising that India was not the first to propose a national framework. Union minister for IT and entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar admitted that something needed to be done late last year. “We need a global framework urgently because, in the next 6-9 months, AI will take shape and evolve in a way that we may not anticipate or fully understand,” he said. However, with major players within the EU, US and Australia already pushing for frameworks or having established their own, it seems that India is lagging far behind, at least at the government level. Whether this spells something good or bad for the industry as a whole, may be a different discussion altogether. With no framework in place, India could be putting its own innovators at a disadvantage while also encouraging outside players to enter the ecosystem to take advantage of India’s laxity as conversations on AI regulation becomes more serious around the world.
With the elections fast approaching, what is the fate of AI in India post 2024?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently claimed that AI had a hand in forming the 2024 BJP manifesto.
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["AI", "artificial intelligence", "Aim", "RAG", "AWS", "R", "Go", "ELT", "innovation", "cloud_platforms:AWS"]
Donna is a technology journalist at AIM, hoping to explore AI and its implications in local communities, as well as its intersections with the space, defence, education and civil sectors.