A Plan for Indian Self-Sufficiency in An AI-Driven World

Context: With the rise of the digital age and its dependence on Artificial Intelligence, being self-sufficient in terms of AI is central to any conception of an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Kris Gopalakrishnan Panel provides suggestions on this regard.

Rising significance of Artificial Intelligence (AI): 

• The determiner of Geo-political and Economic Power: As an information age takes over, hastened by the COVID crisis, every country has to assess where it stands in terms of AI.

• US and China being the front runner have established domestic capacities which will ultimately make other countries economically dependent on the parent nation.

• Expected to manage and lead every sector: 

• There is mobility AI, education AI, health AI, agriculture AI, and so on.
• Google’s parent company Alphabet, For E.g. is into automobiles, media, health, education, travel and perhaps more.

• Fears of Digital Berlin Wall: due to race between the US and China, has led to many nations including India to shape their AI strategies through the development of a strong domestic AI industry.

• Monopolized data sharing: by the global AI giants have led to the mulling of some form of mandatory data sharing protocol to be developed in places like EU, UK and Germany.

Kris Gopalakrishnan recommendations in ensuring data sharing:

• Enforce Community Non-Personal Data Sharing:

• The report characterizes data collected from a community or society as “community data”, and asks for it to be shared for the community or society’s benefit.
• Data sharing by the data collector will be legally enforceable and thus can be utilized by startups.
• It is not concerned with sharing of data private to a business but the data collected from the sources not owned by it.

• Shift from data hoarding to data sharing: as the key competitive advantage to devising innovative uses of widely shared data by the digital businesses.

Conclusion:

• India has considerable technical capabilities in AI & data availability would enable a robust AI industry to emerge. 
• Once the process is set in motion, positive feedback loops will keep improving AI technology as well as data availability.