November 20, 2023
NEW DELHI – Artificial Intelligence-generated Bollywood songs, some featuring PM Narendra Modi, are popular in the Assembly elections due to digital technology. A video shows Modi playing the guitar while sitting cross-legged. His voice has been rendered in recent Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada videos. There are over 2 million views for Modi’s Instagram video singing Telugu and over 2.7 million for a Tamil-language song going viral.
A Punjabi song with Modi’s voice gained over 17 million views. Falu, an Indian-American singer, has received a Grammy nomination for her song “Abundance in Millets”, featuring the Prime Minister. Congress and the BJP have used AI-powered voice cloning tools. They send personalized messages to voters and party workers.
Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, is notable for this. Some television channels have introduced AI TV anchors in Odiya, Kannada and Hindi. Artificial Intelligence has transformed healthcare in India significantly. Advanced diagnosis, treatment, and patient care tools have improved doctors’ services. In other areas, AI is found useful. A recent World Economic Forum report says that India’s expenditure on AI is expected to reach $11.78 billion by 2025.
It will contribute to an addition of $1 trillion to India’s economy by 2035. The Prime Minister is keen on fostering further AI development in India. All these bring us to the question of whether AI is gradually gripping the world. At the first AI Safety Summit hosted by the UK at the historic Bletchley Park on November 1, political and industry leaders discussed the risks around artificial intelligence and how to develop the technology safely. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently convened a meeting with over a hundred world and industry leaders. About 28 countries participated, including the United Nations and the European Union.
US Voce President Kamala Harris represented the US. India, represented by Minister of State Rajeev Chandrashekhar, said, “We want AI and tech to represent goodness, safety and trust”: The revolution in artificial intelligence was the focus. Rapid progress in AI is arousing fear as well as excitement. The participants ranged from doomsayers to participants who hoped AI would save humanity.
They addressed the global nature of the issue and stressed the need for international cooperation and healthy competition. Sunak has said he’s worried about humanity losing control of computers. The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in cyberattacks was also discussed. These could make the global financial system go haywire and threaten democracy. AI can impersonate at a scale and speed never known. “We want AI and tech to represent goodness, safety and trust,” said Minister of State Chandrasekhar.
The conference was undoubtedly a good start. India is planning to host another meeting in December. As the host nation, the UK was the first to announce the formation of an official AI Safety Institute to examine the safety of emerging forms of AI. At the end of the conference, participating countries agreed on a declaration. It read: “The Bletchley Declaration stresses safe, responsible AI development, urges international cooperation to mitigate risks, and promotes global benefits.”
Rapid progress in AI is arousing fear as well as excitement. Will the machine become so powerful that it can replace humans? Google CEO Sunder Pichai said, “Knowledge workers, writers, accountants, architects and, ironically, software engineers would face a threat to their jobs. He noted, “You come in the morning. When you have a lot to review, artificial intelligence (AI) can help you prioritize what needs your attention.”
The risk of terrorist groups using generative AI tools and concerns that AI will become uncontrollable by humans are additional concerns. AI concerns will include real-time cybersecurity, supply chain efficiency, software development acceleration, and customer service automation in the coming year. It cannot engage in negative thoughts or understand cause and effect. It also cannot comprehend time. Supporters note that AI can be used for voter registration and verification. Politicians would benefit from using AI for predictive analysis of voter behaviours.
AI can analyze social media to gauge sentiment and identify critical issues for political campaigns to tailor their messages. Moreover, AI is crucial in maintaining election security by detecting and preventing fraud, hacking attempts, and other irregularities. It can use historical data and current events to predict election outcomes. AI-powered chatbots can provide voters with polling locations, candidate profiles, and additional crucial election-related information. The first summit was a success in bringing these people together.
And it goes beyond politicians. There has yet to be an international regulatory body. Nothing is binding here. Ultimately, we have to find the answer to questions like should we automate all jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart and replace us? That is the crux of the AI issue. Still, moving to AI will take time to happen.