India is building its own ‘sovereign AI’

Subject : Science and Tech

Section: Awareness of IT

Context: India is building its own ‘sovereign AI’

More about the news:

India is aiming to adopt a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) approach to artificial intelligence (AI) after successfully implementing similar strategies for initiatives like Aadhaar and Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
The government wants to establish sovereign AI, emphasizing the importance of developing its own AI ecosystem rather than relying solely on global players like Google and Meta.
The focus is not only on competing in generative AI models but also on addressing real-world applications in healthcare, agriculture, governance, language translation, and more.
The goal is to leverage AI for economic development and offer a sanctioned AI compute infrastructure for various use cases.
Minister of State for Electronics, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, expressed this vision during an event organized by the Financial Express.

What is India’s plan for controlling its own AI:

India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT has proposed the creation of an India Datasets platform as part of the National Data Governance Framework Policy.
The platform aims to house non-personal and anonymized datasets from Central government entities, which have collected data from Indian citizens.
The objective is to make this non-personal data accessible to startups and Indian researchers, fostering an environment for artificial intelligence (AI) and data-led research and startups in the country.
The proposal is part of an effort to modernize government data collection and enhance governance.
A report from a working group under the IT Ministry suggests that the India datasets program could serve as a unified national data sharing and exchange platform, benefiting various stakeholders, including government bodies, private sector companies, startups, academia, and more.
The non-personal data within the platform might also be monetized, contributing to the growth of the AI ecosystem in India by providing a solid foundation for data-driven innovation and development.

How will India regulate AI:

India is planning to introduce laws governing artificial intelligence (AI) with a focus on bringing significant changes to its digital economy.
The approach is expected to be a hybrid of both the European model, which emphasizes regulation for the rights of citizens, and the U.S. model, which focuses on market regulation.
The government is reportedly considering issuing a directive to major tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon to share anonymized personal data with a government-backed database, as part of the draft Digital India Bill.
The directive could mandate depositing non-personal data into the India datasets platform.
This initiative aims to harness economic benefits from aggregated non-personal datasets and was initially proposed by a committee chaired by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.

What are the key Provisions of the Digital India Bill:

The Bill is a key part of a comprehensive legal framework which encompasses various legislative measures such as
- The recently-notified Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023
- The draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022, and
- A policy addressing the governance of non-personal data.
The Bill prioritizes online safety and trust, aiming to protect citizens’ digital rights while remaining adaptable to market changes and international legal principles.
Recognizing the significance of new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, the Bill provides guidelines for their responsible use.
It upholds the idea of an open internet, balancing accessibility with necessary regulations to maintain order and protect users.
The Bill introduces stringent Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements for wearable devices, backed by criminal law sanctions.
Contemplating a review of the “safe harbour” principle, the Bill suggests a potential shift in online accountability standards, presently shielding online platforms from liability related to user-generated content.