RAISE 2020 summit: Here’s what PM Narendra Modi and Ravi Shankar Prasad said about AI

PM Narendra Modi, during the RAISE 2020 keynote event talked about different uses of AI and how technology can complment it.

PM Narendra Modi. (Digital India/YouTube)

The Government of India today kicked off its global AI summit- Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE 2020). In the summit Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CEO of Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant, Minister of Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, and Reliance managing director Mukesh Ambani talked about artificial intelligence and its power to develop different sectors in India.

PM Narendra Modi, during the RAISE 2020 keynote event, said that it's a ‘great effort' to encourage discussion on AI. He also talked on how technology has transformed workplaces and has improved connectivity across India while enriching ‘AI with Human Touch' due to the merger between social responsibility and AI.

PM said that he wants India to become a global hub for AI. And to boost this idea, in April, the government even launched responsible AI for youth program under which, over 11,000 students from schools completed the basic course and are building AI projects at today's date.

However, PM said that the AI must be used in the right manner and not for tasks that go against the development of society. AI should solve the problems of society, he added.

Giving an example of AI, PM Modi said that this can be used to observe the capabilities of a child while growing up. The data can then be assessed by parents and teachers so the right talent can be discovered over the years. This will help him/her excel in a specific area of interest.

Some other uses of AI mentioned by him were in reducing traffic jams, improving sewage systems, making disaster management system stronger and solving the problem of climate change.

But the human intellect stays above all the AI smarts, said the PM. Smartest of AI cannot solve mankind problem with intellect and empathy, he said during the keynote.

In the keynote event, Ravi Shankar Prasad talked about ‘Responsible AI' for social empowerment and how Digital India has improved lives when it comes to e-hospitals, digital literacy, direct benefit transfer and more. He added that due to the digital push, 10.6 million farmers are now using e-market to sell their produce.

As mentioned by Prasad, AI will be meaningful only when it brings improvement in the lives of ordinary citizens. He added that AI ecosystem will promote a large pool of skilled professionals to handle its development in different segments.