India to Voice Global South’s AI Concerns at Action Summit: Indian Envoy to France

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit France from February 10, where he will co-chair the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit. Indian Ambassador to France, Sanjeev Singla, stated on Sunday that India will advocate for the concerns of the Global South during the event.

Speaking to ANI, Singla emphasized that India aims to ensure AI tools are safe, trustworthy, and accessible to all.

“The significance of this visit is that India would be bringing to the table the concerns from the global south that we would like the AI tools to be safe, to be trustworthy, to be secure, that there should not be any concentration of these tools in a particular geography or in a particular set of corporate sector, and that there should be an equitable access when it comes to AI technology being developed, capability building, and how should the governors be looking forward,” Singla told ANI.

Highlighting India’s expertise in AI, Singla noted the country’s strength in developing digital public infrastructure as a global public good.

“One of the two things which India brings when it comes to AI is its expertise in developing the digital public infrastructure as a public good. And that’s India’s strength, we have several examples of developing that and using that, and that’s something we can offer to the rest of the world,” Singla stated.

On Indo-French relations, the Indian envoy underscored the strong strategic partnership between the two nations.

“India and France have a deep strategic partnership. It’s been there for more than 25 years. We had Prime Minister Modi as a chief guest at Bastille Day Two years ago, and then President Macron was the chief guest at our Republic Day last year. Next year, we’re celebrating the year of innovation, and it’s expected that President Macron would be there. So it’s a deep strategic partnership we have, and as part of that partnership, we have built roadmap for the next 25 years. And as part of that roadmap we have very intense, intensive dialogs on the sweeping geopolitical changes which are happening around us, and AI, as one of those major developments, is a subject of discussion,” Singla explained.

Following the AI Summit, PM Modi’s visit will also include a bilateral component where he and President Macron will address the India-France CEOs Forum. On the evening of February 11, PM Modi will travel to Marseille, where President Emmanuel Macron will host a dinner in his honor.

During his visit, PM Modi will pay tribute to Indian soldiers who fought in World War I by visiting a military cemetery on February 12.

Additionally, he will visit Cadarshe, the site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, on February 12.