Need to embrace AI to innovate faster, protect privacy: B20 India Chair

New Delhi [India], August 25 : B20 India Chair N Chandrasekaran on Friday said that there is a need to figure out a way to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of realizing the full potential of AI so that innovation can take place faster at the same time with the protection of privacy.
“To truly realize the full potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI), we need to figure out a way to embrace AI so that we can innovate faster while at the same time protecting privacy. Having the right digital infrastructure like cloud, data centre, digital devices for everyone, etc is fundamental to make a large impact,” N Chandrasekaran, Chair, B20 India and Executive Chairman of Tata Sons said.
While speaking during Plenary Session 2 on ‘AI for Business and Societies: Opportunities and Regulations’ at the B20 Summit India 2023 in New Delhi on 25 August, Chandrasekaran said that India has made a big breakthrough in the privacy space and the country has taken a techno-legal approach.
“On one hand, we have got regulations for data privacy and protection, and on the other hand, we have DEPA (Data Empowerment and Protection Architecture). With both working together, we are able to safely secure, with consent, any transaction and sharing of data at an aggregate level with complete security and protection of privacy,” the B20 India Chair said.
The summit was organized by CII, the Secretariat for the B20 India.
He said India has put in a unique digital infrastructure that has enabled it to deliver public services at a remarkable pace.
“In a country like India, AI will create jobs and it will empower people with little to no skill to perform higher-level jobs,” he said.
President and Vice Chairman of Microsoft Brad Smith also said that one should be excited about the opportunities of AI but at the same time be thoughtful about the downside, and construct guardrails from the outset, as industry, companies, governments and countries.
“The demographic diversity in India is extraordinary. In some ways, Generative AI is more powerful in a country that speaks many languages because it is such a powerful tool that it can help people communicate across different languages,” he said.
Talking about the benefits and applications of Generative AI, Smith said that it can be used almost anywhere that involves data.
“AI is an indispensable tool. You can take something like pancreatic cancer. It is difficult for doctors to detect it, but AI is already helping doctors detect it early,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer of Mastercard Michael Miebach said that the immediate set of use cases for Generative AI is improving efficiency and effectiveness.
“Generative AI can help small businesses automate the mundane task and enable the leaders to focus on the big picture,” he said.
Speaking about the regulation, he said that traditionally, the private sector needs to lead. Noting that regulations are behind on AI, he advocated for self-regulation and underlined the key principles -- privacy, security, transparency, accountability and integrity.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer IBM Arvind Krishna said that AI is expected to produce USD 4.4 trillion annually by 2030.
“AI or Generative AI can perform certain cognitive or mundane tasks for businesses of all scales, thereby making people more productive. In effect, you will have more workers. This is a way to make GDP grow faster. Our goal is to make secure and accountable AI that can benefit the productivity of enterprises and government,” he said.
Talking about the role of changing demographics, he said that since developing countries now have a decreasing working-age population, the deployment of technology is going to happen from the global south.
Krishna added that many jobs can be filled from the Global South remotely with the skills that are present, with little training.
Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Adobe Shantanu Narayen said that AI has the ability to further enhance and improve the building blocks of the past and noted that AI has applications in education, healthcare, financial inclusion, and government engagement with citizens, among others.