Open-sourced AI, unbiased datasets are essential: PM Narendra Modi

Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris: Offers to hold next global meet on the tech in India

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping politics, the economy, security and society worldwide because of rapid advancements in this technology, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday. He called for global collaboration to “pool” resources and talent, develop open-source generative AI systems, and build datasets “free from biases”.

 

He stressed that any AI regulation should not only mitigate risks but also foster innovation and advance global sustainability goals.

 

“AI is writing the code for humanity in this century. But it is very different from other technology milestones in human history. AI is developing at an unprecedented scale and speed and being adapted and deployed even faster,” Modi said at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris. India is co-chairing the summit alongside France.

 

 

The prime minister also proposed hosting the next AI Action Summit in India.

 

Modi, in his address, said that countries must work together to ensure AI governance policies and standards reflect shared global values, address risks, and build trust among stakeholders.

 

The regulation of AI should go beyond managing risks and rivalries, he added, and focus on promoting innovation and deploying the technology for global good. “So, we must think deeply and discuss openly about innovation, and governance. Governance is also about ensuring access to all, especially the Global South. It is where the capabilities are most lacking, be it compute, power, talent, data, or financial resources,” he said.

 

AI has the potential to transform lives by improving health care, education and agriculture, enabling a faster and more equitable path towards global sustainability goals, the prime minister said.  “To do this, we must pool together resources and talent. We must develop open-source systems that enhance trust and transparency. We must build quality datasets free from biases. We must democratise technology and people-centric applications.”

 

The prime minister’s remarks come amid growing debate over open-sourcing AI advancements, as more nations seek to develop sovereign foundation models. Countries are also racing to secure large quantities of graphics processing units (GPUs) to power AI models.

 

In January, Chinese company DeepSeek released an open-source model of its latest foundation model, R1, claiming it was developed at a fraction of the cost and computational power required for OpenAI’s foundation models and its interactive tool ChatGPT.

 

Last week, OpenAI’s chief executive officer, Sam Altman, who visited several countries, including India, said that while developing foundation and frontier AI models remains expensive, advancements over the past two years have made it “doable.”

 

Despite having one of the largest user and developer bases for global tech majors, such as OpenAI, India has lagged in the AI race. To address this, the central government has launched the ₹10,372 crore INDIAai Mission to procure at least 10,000 GPUs — critical hardware for developing foundation models, large language models, and small language models.

 

The electronics and information technology minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has also announced plans to support companies in building a sovereign foundation model within the next 10 months under the INDIAai Mission.

 

During his Paris AI Summit address, Modi acknowledged fears that generative AI would disrupt jobs but argued that history shows technology does not eliminate work; rather, it transforms it. “We need to invest in skilling and re-skilling our people for an AI-driven future. There is no doubt that the high-energy intensity of AI needs to be looked into. This will require green power to fuel its future,” Modi said.

 

The prime minister’s speech had key takeaways -- AI will not eliminate jobs but will necessitate reskilling, AI should be used for public good, and AI development must incorporate sustainable, green energy sources, said Pawan Prabhat, co-founder of Shorthills AI.

 

B Ravindran, head of the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI at IIT Madras, echoed Modi’s call for AI to augment human capabilities. “In particular, he called out the need for development of AI with a human side -- to augment humans. This is a message he has been conveying repeatedly over the years. He also remarked that AI governance doesn’t just mean guarding against risks, but also enabling AI to have greater impact. This is especially important for a country like ours,” he told Business Standard.