A global artificial intelligence summit kicked off in New Delhi on\nMonday (Feb 16) with big issues on the agenda, from job disruption to\nchild safety, although some attendees warned the broad focus could make\nconcrete commitments from world leaders less likely.<\/p>\n
While frenzied demand for generative AI has turbocharged profits for\nmany tech companies, anxiety is growing over the risks that it poses to\nsociety and the environment.<\/p>\n
The five-day AI Impact Summit aims to declare a \u201cshared roadmap for\nglobal AI governance and collaboration\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is the fourth annual gathering addressing the problems and\nopportunities posed by AI, after previous international meetings in\nParis, Seoul and Britain\u2019s wartime code-breaking hub Bletchley.<\/p>\n
Touted as the biggest edition yet, the Indian government is expecting\ntens of thousands of visitors from across the sector.<\/p>\n
That includes 20 national leaders and 45 ministerial-level\ndelegations, who will rub shoulders with tech CEOs, including Sam Altman\nof OpenAI and Google\u2019s Sundar Pichai.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AI Impact Summit will enrich global discourse on diverse aspects\nof AI, such as innovation, collaboration, responsible use and more,\u201d\nIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on X.<\/p>\n
It is \u201cfurther proof that our country is progressing rapidly in the\nfield of science and technology,\u201d and \u201cshows the capability of our\ncountry\u2019s youth\u201d, added Modi, who will inaugurate the event later on\nMonday.<\/p>\n
At the busy conference site, panels and roundtables were held on\ntopics ranging from how AI can make India\u2019s treacherous roads safer to\nhow South Asian women are engaging with the technology.<\/p>\n
Three \u201cSutras\u201d<\/p>\n
But whether Modi and the likes of France\u2019s Emmanuel Macron and\nBrazil\u2019s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will take meaningful steps to hold AI\ngiants accountable is in doubt, said Amba Kak, co-executive director of\nthe AI Now Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven the much-touted industry voluntary commitments made at these\nevents have largely been narrow \u2018self-regulatory\u2019 frameworks that\nposition AI companies to continue to grade their own homework,\u201d she told\nAFP.<\/p>\n
The Bletchley gathering in 2023 was called the AI Safety Summit, but\nthe meetings\u2019 names have changed as they have grown in size and\nscope.<\/p>\n
At last year\u2019s AI Action Summit in Paris, dozens of nations signed a\nstatement calling for efforts to regulate AI tech to make it \u201copen\u201d and\n\u201cethical\u201d.<\/p>\n
The United States did not sign, with Vice President JD Vance warning\nthat \u201cexcessive regulation \u2026 could kill a transformative sector just as\nit\u2019s taking off\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Delhi summit has the loose themes of \u201cpeople, progress, planet\u201d \u2014\ndubbed the three \u201csutras\u201d. AI safety remains a priority, including the\ndangers of misinformation such as deepfakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is real scope for change\u201d although it might not happen fast\nenough to prevent harm to minors, said AI Asia Pacific Institute\ndirector Kelly Forbes, whose organisation is researching how Australia\nand other countries are requiring platforms to confront the issue.<\/p>\n
AI for \u201cthe Many\u201d<\/p>\n
Organisers highlight this year\u2019s AI summit as the first hosted by a\ndeveloping country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe summit will shape a shared vision for AI that truly serves the\nmany, not just the few,\u201d India\u2019s IT ministry has said.<\/p>\n
Last year India leapt to third place \u2014 overtaking South Korea and\nJapan \u2014 in an annual global ranking of AI competitiveness calculated by\nStanford University researchers.<\/p>\n
But despite plans for large-scale infrastructure and grand ambitions\nfor innovation, experts say the country has a long way to go before it\ncan rival the United States and China.<\/p>\n
Globally, AI could threaten jobs in industries from software\ndevelopment and factory work to filmmaking, with India\u2019s large customer\nservice and tech support sectors particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n
Shares in the country\u2019s outsourcing firms have plunged in recent\ndays, partly due to advances in AI assistant tools.<\/p>\n
Asked about Indian call centres, startup co-founder Peush Bery told\nAFP at the summit that AI voice tools \u201cwill definitely remove that job\u201d\nwithin a few years, but that society would evolve to cope.<\/p>\n
\u201cNew jobs come up, new fields come up,\u201d such as working with data to\nensure AI tools can recognise many different accents, Bery said.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/india-hosts-ai-summit-as-safety-concerns-grow-1771309345", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }