India to help build framework to prevent AI misuse: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

India and 24 other member states of an artificial intelligence-specific multi-stakeholder initiative will work towards drawing up a framework to prevent AI misuse and user harm, minister of state for electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on November 21.

Chandrasekhar was virtually addressing the summit of Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), as India took over as the chair of the initiative for a year..

"India will work in cooperation with all the member states in making sure that we build a framework around which AI and the power of AI can be exploited for the good of citizens and consumers of all nations all around the world," the minister said on the opening day of the two-day summit being held in Tokyo.

This remark come at a time when the government has attributed the lack of safety on the internet to bots and unregulated usage of algorithms among other things.

The proposed framework would also "ensure that there are adequate guardrails to prevent the misuse and indeed user harm that can come out of the malicious use of AI", Chandrasekhar said.

The minister stressed algorithmic transparency as a key to establishing trust. "Equally important is accountability and we must protect the world against weaponisation of AI by certain state actors," he said.

The government would soon launch the largest public accessibly dataset program called the India Datasets Program, Chandrasekhar said.

"We are committed to the efficient and useful use of AI in governance in catalysing the innovation ecosystem around AI that can create good useful, trusted applications for our citizens, for the world at large for the enterprises of the world," he said.

Along with India, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union are the others members of GPAI.