Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation

PM’s address at the inauguration of ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020’ Summit

  • Welcome to RAISE Responsible AI for Social Empowerment Summit. This is a great effort to encourage discussion on Artificial Intelligence. You all have rightly highlighted aspects relating to technology and human empowerment.
  • Technology has transformed our work places. It has improved connectivity. Time and again, technology has helped us solve key challenges. I am sure this merge between social responsibility and AI will enrich AI with human touch.
  • Friends, Artificial intelligence is a tribute to human intellectual power. The power to think enabled humans to make tools and technologies.
  • Today, these tools and technologies have also acquired the power to learn and think! In this, one key emerging technology is AI. The teamwork of AI with humans can do wonders for our planet.
  • Friends, At every step of history, India has led the world in knowledge and learning. In today’s age of IT as well, India is making outstanding contributions.
  • Some of the brightest tech leaders belong to India. India has also proved to be the power-house of the global IT services Industry. We will continue to digitally excel and delight the world.
  • Friends, In India, we have experienced that technology improves transparency and service delivery. We are home to the world’s largest unique identity system- Aadhaar. We also have the world’s most innovative digital payments system-UPI.
  • This has enabled providing access to digital services, including financial services, like Direct Cash Transfers to the poor and marginalised. In the pandemic situation, we saw how India’s digital readiness was of great help.
  • We reached out to people with help, at the earliest and in the most efficient manner. India is rapidly expanding its optical fibre network. The aim is to provide every village with high speed internet connectivity.
  • Friends, Now, we want India to become a global hub for AI. Many Indians are already working on this. I hope many more do so in the times to come.
  • Our approach to this is powered by core principles of: Teamwork, Trust, Collaboration, Responsibility and Inclusivity.
  • Friends, India has recently adopted the National Education Policy 2020. It focuses on technology-based learning and skilling as a major part of education.
  • E-courses will also be developed in various regional languages and dialects. This whole effort will benefit from Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities of AI platforms.
  • We launched Responsible AI for Youth program this year in April, under this programme, more than 11000 students from schools completed the basic course. They are now building their AI projects.
  • Friends, The National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) is being formed. This will create an e-Education unit to boost the digital infrastructure, digital content and capacity.
  • Virtual labs are being established to provide hands-on experience to learners. We have also launched the Atal Innovation Mission to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
  • Through these steps, we aim to keep pace with emerging technologies for people’s benefit.