The UNESCO South Asia Regional Office, in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Ikigai Law as the implementing partner, organized a stakeholder consultation on Safety and Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (AI) at UNESCO House, New Delhi on 14 November, 2024. This event marked the launch of a series of five consultations under the AI Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM), an initiative by UNESCO and MeitY aimed at crafting an India-specific AI policy report. The report’s objective is to identify strengths and growth opportunities within India’s AI ecosystem, while providing actionable insights for the responsible and ethical adoption of AI across various sectors.

The consultation brought together diverse stakeholders from government, academia, industry, and civil society to explore strategies for aligning India’s AI ecosystem with ethical principles in UNESCO’s Global Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, emphasizing transparency, inclusiveness, and fairness. The AI RAM serves as a diagnostic tool that identifies opportunities for member states to engage, particularly in AI regulatory and institutional capacity-building efforts. As India continues its rapid AI growth, this ethical alignment of AI governance will foster a holistic AI ecosystem for safety and trust, aiding a vision of AI for all.

Advancing Responsible AI Governance in India

This initiative comes at a crucial moment as India embarks on its ambitious INDIAai Mission, backed by over ₹10,000 crore in funding. Central to the mission is the Safe and Trusted AI pillar, which underscores the commitment to ensuring safety, accountability, and ethical practices in AI development and deployment. By promoting indigenous frameworks, robust governance tools, and self-assessment guidelines, the mission aims to empower innovators and democratize AI benefits across sectors.

Highlights from the Consultation

The event featured expert presentations, breakout sessions, and discussions that provided actionable insights into responsible AI adoption:

 

• Mr. Tim Curtis, Director of UNESCO’s South Asia Regional Office, delivered the welcome address, emphasizing the synergy between UNESCO’s ethical AI initiatives and the INDIAai Mission. He highlighted the shared vision of both initiatives in promoting ethical AI development through strategic alignment and actionable policy frameworks, underscoring their mutual commitment to fostering a responsible and inclusive AI ecosystem.

• Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, MeitY, delivered the keynote address, emphasizing the need to equip individuals with the right awareness, ability, and tools to ensure effective AI governance. He highlighted the importance of fostering innovation while prioritizing transparency, data privacy, and security, in alignment with global AI standards. Additionally, he highlighted the critical role of the DPDP Act in advancing responsible AI practices and reaffirmed India’s active participation in international AI forums to balance innovation with regulation.
• Shri Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary of MeitY, emphasized the government’s commitment to fostering an innovation-friendly AI environment rooted in responsible governance during his address. He provided in-depth insights into the IndiaAI Mission’s seven pillars, highlighting key areas such as compute capacity, broad dataset access, skill-building initiatives, and ethical governance frameworks. The Additional Secretary also acknowledged UNESCO’s contributions in AI readiness assessments and emphasized India’s potential to lead responsible AI development and deployment, particularly benefiting the global south. He underlined India’s unique opportunity to set an example in deploying AI for social good in critical sectors like healthcare, education, and agriculture, driven by inclusive, transparent, and secure practices through collaborations with academia, industry, and government.
• Project Presentations: As part of MeitY’s Safe and Trusted AI Pillar, two prominent projects were featured during the event. Mr. Avinash Agrawal, Deputy Director General, Telecommunication Engineering Center, DoT, presented the AI Ethical Certification Project, which focuses on developing frameworks and tools to ensure fairness in AI models. Dr. Ranjitha Prasad, Assistant Professor, IIIT-Delhi, showcased the Privacy Enhancing Strategy Project, which is dedicated to establishing privacy-preserving machine learning standards to enhance the robustness of AI models.

Building India’s AI Roadmap

Breakout sessions facilitated in-depth discussions across key areas, including governance, infrastructure, workforce, and sectoral AI adoption. Participants provided valuable inputs, shaping the foundation for India’s AI policy roadmap. These collaborative efforts aim to address gaps, prioritize opportunities, and ensure ethical AI practices that contribute to societal well-being.

Way Forward

UNESCO and MeitY are committed to translating the principles of UNESCO’s Global Recommendation into concrete policy actions tailored to India’s unique AI ecosystem. The AI RAM sessions will continue across India, fostering multi-stakeholder engagement to advance inclusive, responsible, and sustainable AI governance.

For further details, please contact Ms. Eunsong Kim, Chief of Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO South Asia Regional Office at e.kim@unesco.org, or Sindhuja Khajuria, Communications and Public Relations Officer, UNESCO South Asia Regional Office at s.khajuria@unesco.org.

 

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