Assess impact of AI tech: IT honchos

TENKASI: Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu along with technocrats Sharad Sharma (co-founder of iSPIRT Foundation) and Rajiv Kumar (former VC of Niti Aayog & current chairman of Pahle India Foundation) have signed a petition urging Indian authorities to assess impact of AI (artificial intelligence) advancements on the country. The move comes after Elon Musk and AI experts recently called for a pause on training advanced AI systems.

The Indian petition has urged authorities to come up with a framework that could help the global community to engage and agree upon "the rules of the game" for future development of AI along the same lines as agreements made in the past on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The development comes at a time when OpenAI, Microsoft and others have been developing generative AI models at a pace too fast for ethical, regulatory and safety concerns to be considered. The petition calls for IT researchers, policymakers, academicians, industry leaders and members of civil society in India to participate in the debate "to help evolve a national consensus on how best to utilise this powerful technology".

"The emergence of powerful AI, with all its transformational potential, could also be the harbinger of chaotic - and potentially catastrophic - consequences for humanity. Finding an answer to this existential question is a categorical imperative for all nations including India," the letter read. While admitting that AI applications are important for India, the petitioners note that the effects of adopting the tech without due diligence and appropriate safeguards can disrupt social order.

Addressing media in Tenkasi on Monday at an event announcing Zoho's rural initiatives, Vembu said strides made by AI-powered conversational platforms such as ChatGPT could kill "millions of jobs" at developers/coders' level. "We are calling for a regulatory framework to demand transparency from all players who are operating here. Play by our rules to do business here, that's fair right," he said. "Something like an ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) must be planned for AI," added Vembu, who is also on the country's National Security Advisory board.


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