Do not see any threat to jobs from current form of AI: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the Centre will regulate AI technology to ensure that it does not harm digital citizens

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday ruled out any threat of job loss due to the evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), stating that the current form of AI is largely task-oriented and incapable of dealing with situations requiring logic and reasoning.

He also stated that the government will regulate AI technology to ensure that it does not harm digital citizens.

"While AI is disruptive we do not see in the next few years the so-called threat of replacing the jobs. Because the current stage of the development of AI is very task-oriented and not reasoning, logic etc," the minister said.

"Jobs usually have reasoning and logic and AI is not as sophisticated at this point," the minister added.

In terms of AI regulation, he stated that the government will regulate it while keeping user harm in mind. "We will safeguard digital citizens through this technology."

"Our approach towards AI regulation is very simple. We will regulate AI as we regulate Web 3 or any emerging technologies to ensure they do not harm digital citizens," Chandrasekhar said.

Given India's strong IT industry and a large data set, AI-based utilities have enormous potential in the country. Although AI is still in its early stages.

Many countries have been using AI technologies to improve service delivery and reduce human intervention, but concerns about job losses remain as the technology evolves.

On Thursday, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi to discuss various aspects of AI, including the need for global regulation.

Besides India, Altman is on a six-nation tour this week, including Israel, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and South Korea.

After meeting Altman, PM Modi wrote in a tweet that the potential of AI in India's tech ecosystem is vast, particularly among the youth.

"We welcome all collaborations that can accelerate our digital transformation for empowering our citizens," PM Modi wrote.
 

Altman, on the other hand, shared his plans for India, and stated that the first thing he will do in India is fund startups.

"We were always amazed and quite grateful for the quality of Indian startups," he said, adding that he had met some startups in India.

(With agency input)