Opinion
Tech-savvy PM Modi has a bold vision: AI, ethics and transformation
In the GPAI Summit recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for ethical AI, stressing its pivotal role in shaping a technologically advanced and culturally rooted India
Arjun Singh Kadian December 19, 2023 13:38:00 IST 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming the biggest basis for sculpting the new future. As AI can connect people, it not only ensures economic development but it ensures equality and social justice”
-Prime Minister Narendra Modi, GPAI Summit, New Delhi
At the inauguration of the annual Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit, held in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi touched upon various aspects of disruptive technology emphasizing how it can revolutionise India especially in harnessing social change and development and giving a boost to the economy. Even as he spoke about its immense benefits, he did call out the prevalent threats, mentioning deep fakes, and AI in the hands of terrorists and pointed out that unless AI is ethical and transparent, the trust in AI will not grow. From asking if a software watermark can be introduced to mark any information or product as AI-generated to asking experts to explore an audit mechanism that can categorise AI tools into red, yellow or green as per their capabilities, Prime Minister Modi covered the impacts of AI on the social, technological and cultural landscape of the country, in his address.
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However, this is not the first time that the prime minister has focused on leveraging technology for the larger good of society. I remember an incident that a cardiac surgeon friend told me while I was working on a book on health. Today, this cardiac surgeon sits at the helm of one of the biggest hospital chains in India. The incident takes us back 15 years ago when his boss, who is also a respected and rather well-known name in the affordable healthcare segment in India, was called by the then chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi for a meeting on healthcare and how to expand in the state. Our cardiac surgeon friend accompanied his boss to meet the chief minister in Ahmadabad. A detailed presentation was prepared and since this doctor had the experience of discussing healthcare matters with different leaders across the country, he ensured that the presentation was detailed and that they covered all aspects.
The meeting with Chief Minister Modi started right on time and the doctors were impressed with the clarity of thought that the chief minister showed when speaking about healthcare for his state of Gujarat. He displayed a clinical understanding of different aspects of healthcare along with multiple ideas to ensure quality living for Gujaratis. However, the outcome of this meeting could have been different! The meeting may just have to be cancelled or rescheduled if not for the tech knowledge of the Chief Minister.
The story goes that while the meeting started on time, it was a start plagued by tech glitches. The nervous doctors began fiddling with the cables and tried hard to get the computer connected to the display screen. It was getting evident that the doctors had not done this before and just when they seemed at wits end and embarrassed, our cardiac surgeon friend said that Modi moved towards the laptop, did something with the cables and their presentation was on! The fact that he did it so nonchalantly, putting the nervous doctors at ease, surprised them to no end.
We all know the prime minister as an early adopter of the internet. But how early? Narendra Modi’s love for technology goes back to the days when he used to do organisational work in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Not many know that Narendra Modi was an eager student of computers, always willing to learn. T revealed Shailaja Grover, who became Prime Minister Modi’s only computer teacher when he was the then BJP national secretary. Prime Minister Modi had spent some years, close to my family home in Panchkula, working as in-charge for Haryana, among other states. It was during this time that Grover met Modi in Sector 7 and ended up becoming his computer teacher. Shailaja was surprised at the eagerness that Modi showed towards learning computers and said he was an active learner.
Since then, his love for technology has only grown over the years. From being an early adopter of the internet to using social media platforms like X to reach out to his constituents all over the country, the use of technology is something that Modi has done with diligence. His direct connection with everyone has almost made the journalists, who hounded him since 2002, redundant.
After assuming office as the prime minister in 2014, Modi has effectively utilised technology for governance to bring about transparency, efficiency and citizen engagement. From initiatives in agriculture like the electronic-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) for an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India, to the Digital India flagship initiative where his government launched projects and schemes to promote digital literacy, improve digital infrastructure and enhance the delivery of government services through online platforms, he has been at the forefront of streamlining processes in different government functions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government, under Modi’s leadership, employed various technology-driven initiatives like the Aarogya Setu app for contact tracing, the CoWIN platform for COVID-19 vaccination registration and other technology-driven tools for monitoring and managing the pandemic.
Since 2014, India has undergone drastic changes as the economy has been digitised. The JAM(Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile) trinity has ensured greater financial inclusion across the board with a reduction in pilferage and an increase in micro-finance thus giving a boost to the digital economy. The government e-marketplace (GeM), an online platform that facilitates procurement of goods and services by government departments, organisations and public sector undertakings is a bid to promote transparency, efficiency and cost-effectiveness in government procurement.
In fact, the last nine years have seen a separate economy emerge in sectors that use digital technologies as a central tool. Modi government has straddled the technology domain with confidence using tech for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, which aims to reduce leakages and ensure that benefits reach the intended beneficiaries. The made in India BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app was launched to promote digital payments using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
All of this took shape because of the visionary approach of the Prime Minister and his relentless belief that building a strong Bharat in all sectors is possible if we just allow the common man and show trust in their capabilities and intelligence. This was the exact reverse of the approach of some naysayers and Congress leaders like former finance minister and Congress leader P Chidambaram who mocked the digital efforts of the government, saying ‘how can Indian villages do #digitalpayment ? Do they have WiFi, electricity, mobile phones?’ More than mocking the government, it was taking a condescending dig at the intelligence of the common Indian, who the Opposition believed would be inept at using technology, something that Modi has never done. This is evidenced in a report by TransUnion CIBIL, which said that currently, 36 per cent of digital payment users hail from rural parts of the country. The country also saw 2,800 crore app downloads during 2022, accounting for 5 per cent of global app downloads — the second highest in the world. It also has 120 crore wireless phone subscribers, of whom 45 per cent are in rural geographies, and 76 crore active internet users, of whom 53 per cent are in rural areas.
So, as I listened to Prime Minister Modi taking huge bets on AI at the annual Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) Summit, it was inspiring to hear his ideas. From saying that testing AI tools must be done before launching them in the market, to urging states to use data for evidence-based decision-making, to using AI to make digital services available in local languages to increase digital inclusion, Prime Minister Modi also suggested using AI to revive the languages which are no longer spoken.
For a prime minister who is rooted culturally in Bharat and her ethos, it was only befitting that he ended his speech urging everyone to use AI and take forward our rich literature of the Sanskrit language and reunite the missing volumes of Vedic mathematics.
The author is an academic and policy professional based out of offices in Haryana and Delhi. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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