Establishing dos and don'ts of AI use a must, PM Modi tells Bill Gates
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, March 29
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday flagged “significant risks of placing powerful technologies like Artificial Intelligence in unskilled hands”, advocating watermarking of AI-generated visuals, including deepfakes, and said the establishment of dos and don’ts for AI use is a must.
The PM said AI should be used to improve lives and not seen as some kind of a magic tool that will step in for us just because we are too lazy to do something on our own.
“In a vast democratic country like India, the misuse of deepfake can create uproar. For example, they can misuse my voice and it can initially deceive people leading to widespread chaos. So it is crucial to acknowledge that deepfake is AI generated and mention its source. These measures are really important, especially in the beginning. We need to establish some dos and don’ts,” the PM said in a 45-minute freewheeling conversation with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
In the discussion held at the PM’s official residence here and broadcast on PM’s X handle, the two leaders engaged one another on India’s digital revolution, risks and use of AI, climate change challenge, millets and Modi’s relaxation schedules.
Modi told Gates, “I have a childlike curiosity for technology but I am not its slave.”
“There is a significant risk of misuse when such powerful technologies as AI are placed in unskilled hands. I have spoken to all legal minds engaged with AI. I suggested that we should start with clear watermarks on AI-generated content to prevent misinformation,” Modi said to Gates, who wanted to know how India was addressing AI challenges.
The PM said AI should not be seen as “some kind of a magic tool which we use because we are lazy”.
“We should instead compete with ChatGPT and use it within our own area of expertise,” said the PM explaining how India had “democratised digital technologies to ease living and enhance incomes”.
He gave examples of India’s Covid vaccine delivery platform COWIN; Drone Didi project where rural women were being trained as drone pilots “to break stereotypes that women could only handle odd jobs in villages”.
The Prime Minister told Gates that while India fell behind at the time of the first and second industrial revolutions “because it was enslaved”, it will “contribute immensely to the fourth industrial revolution where digital elements dominate”.
To address climate change challenges — an issue where the PM and Gates Foundation have engaged on a global level — Modi advocated a fresh approach to measurement of national growth.
“Currently all parameters of measuring the growth of nations are climate unfriendly. Progress is measured by per capita energy consumption, the use of steel by a country. All this spurs a demand for steel which in turn leads to carbon emissions. We should develop the concept of green GDP. Parameters of growth must be climate friendly,” said the PM, adding that mere policy level interventions will not reverse the threat of climate change.
“We need to change our lifestyles and live in sync with nature. Even the vegetarians need to tweak diet choices and opt more for millets which use little water to grow and are super foods,” Modi said.
In an answer to PM’s question as to which book inspired him the most, Gates cited Steven Pinker’s ‘The Better Angels of Our Nature’.
“Through this book you learn about the world and you see children are dying and yet there is so much progress in the sense that more children are surviving. The lesson is — We have to both be upset that what is happening is not good enough but also be happy that great progress has been made,” said Gates.
