New Delhi:
The rise of AI, or artificial intelligence, is inevitable and will “create new types of jobs… new scales of jobs,” Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa, said at the NDTV World Summit on Tuesday evening.
Artificial intelligence, Kant also said, should be used to “create a better society (and) improve human development rather than creating LLMs,” referring to large language models, a type of machine learning that can perform natural language processing . or NLP, tasks.
“All this talk about AI is about LLMs. But AI should impact the lives of citizens. So you need AI to improve educational outcomes and health outcomes… you need it to improve nutrition standards… AI must are used to improve the quality of life,” he said at the NDTV World Summit.
“AI should not only be used to create LLMs that could come into conflict tomorrow over ethical issues because of the assumptions on which they are based,” Kant added. “That is why it is very crucial that we use AI to transform the lives of citizens.”
Asked whether AI will take over existing jobs – a worrying scenario for critics of the technology – Kant replied: “AI is inevitable… but it will create new types of jobs… and therefore we need to create many more skilled jobs.” people in these areas (referring to data science, machine learning, etc.).”
“And that’s what many of our IITs are doing today,” he said.
AI has been a recurring topic at the NDTV summit, right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opening speech. Speaking on Monday, Mr Modi said his government is committed to increasing the use of AI in every sector of the economy.
READ | “India has double AI power”: what PM said at NDTV world summit
“This is the age of AI and the future of the world is tied to it,” he said, while also pointing out, “India is powered by two AIs. To the world it is artificial intelligence, but to us it is ‘ambitious India’. ‘ + Artificial intelligence. When the two meet, it will accelerate India’s growth.”
And earlier today, in a panel discussion on AI innovation in the country, top business leaders from the private sector called for AI to become part of the education system.
READ | Panel at the NDTV Summit on why AI innovation has not yet taken off in India
As India, and the rest of the world, explores the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning, there were also some cautionary voices at the NDTV World Summit. Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal acknowledged that AI will become one of the key drivers of the global economy, but also said new technology will bring new challenges, including potential for misuse, and will therefore require vigilance.
READ | “Must protect society from AI”: Sunil Bharti Mittal at NDTV summit
Mr. Mittal cited a personal anecdote about how a senior financial official based in Dubai received a fraudulent phone call that appeared to imitate Mittal’s voice and tone and arranged a large money transfer.
“The challenge is to create two Americas in five decades”
On the broader issue of India’s economic development—particularly its goal of becoming the world’s third-largest economy by 2030—Kant emphasized the need to reskill and capitalize on the country’s younger demographic, and to starting production.
“Growing from a $4 trillion economy to a $30 trillion economy means growing your GDP nine times… your per capita income eight times… and the manufacturing sector sixteen times. That is the challenge… and to overcome that India has to become an important part of the (global) value chain,” he told NDTV.
“You have to urbanize because 500 million people will be in the process of urbanization in the next five decades (and) that means India’s challenge is to create two Americas…,” he said.
Kant also emphasized the need to make the agricultural sector more efficient and enable India to reduce the share of people involved in that sector – from the nearly 45 percent it is now – without jeopardizing food security.
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