- India plans to expand its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) model to artificial intelligence (AI), aiming for sovereign AI capabilities in a strategic drive to boost its technical power.
Strategic Direction of the Sovereign AI Initiative:
- The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology has stated that India is committed to establishing its own sovereign AI rather than depending entirely on ecosystems led by global tech giants.
- Areas of Concentration: The government’s AI policy is built on practical applications in areas such as healthcare, agriculture, and governance, with the goal of having a larger economic effect.
So far, Tech Governance Solutions
- Global Positioning: India is establishing itself as a pioneer in the use of technology to large-scale governance solutions.
- Famous Examples: Key successes for the country include the Aadhaar biometric identity programme and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
- Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) refers to government-backed technological frameworks that are then improved upon by commercial businesses for diverse uses.
India’s AI Control Strategy
- Policy Framework: MeitY’s proposed National Data Governance Framework Policy intends to develop an India Datasets platform that aggregates non-personal and anonymised government data.
- Empowering Innovation: The goal of this programme is to give entrepreneurs and researchers access to vital data for AI development and study.
- The policy’s purpose is to modernise data collecting in order to improve governance and foster an AI-centric startup environment.
Findings from the Unified National Data
- Sharing Platform Report: According to a recent IT Ministry study, the India datasets programme is critical to enable different data sharing and exchange use cases.
- Data Monetization: The potential monetization of non-personal data is viewed as a fuel for AI sector innovation and growth.
AI Regulation in India
- Legislative Prospects: Future AI governance regulations in India are likely to reflect the important role AI plays in the digital economy.
- Regulatory Approach: The government intends to implement a hybrid regulatory approach that incorporates components of both European and American regulatory systems.
- Data Sharing by Tech Giants: A proposed rule included in the draught Digital India Bill may mandate large technology corporations to provide non-personal data to a government database.
- Legislative Timeline: Following the 2024 general elections, the government is expected to focus on the Digital India Bill.
- Committee Recommendations: A committee established by MeitY proposed using aggregated non-personal data for economic advantages, identifying selected high-value datasets for this purpose.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/india-sovereign-ai-meaning-9048436/