San Francisco Frontiers - World leaders to declare shared stance on AI at India summit

It comes a day after OpenAI chief Sam Altman told the meeting in New Delhi that the fast-evolving sector needs regulation "urgently".

Frenzied demand for generative AI has turbocharged profits for companies, while also fuelling fears about the impact on society and the planet.

Altman, CEO of the company behind ChatGPT, has called for oversight in the past but said last year that taking too tight an approach could hold the United States back in the AI race.

"Centralisation of this technology, in one company or country, could lead to ruin," the 40-year-old said on Thursday.

"This is not to suggest that we won't need any regulation or safeguards. We obviously do, urgently, like we have for other powerful technologies."

India's AI Impact Summit is the fourth annual gathering to discuss the risks and opportunities posed by rapidly advancing computing power.

It is the largest yet and the first in a developing country, with India taking the opportunity to push its ambitions to catch up with the United States and China.

India expects more than $200 billion in investments over the next two years, and US tech titans unveiled new deals and infrastructure projects this week.

- 'Common good' -

Many say stronger action is needed to combat emerging issues, such as job disruption, online abuse and the electricity demands of data centres.

But the broad focus of the New Delhi event, and vague promises made at the previous summits in France, South Korea and Britain, could make concrete commitments unlikely.

Even so, "governance of powerful technologies typically begins with shared language: what risks matter, what thresholds are unacceptable", said Niki Iliadis, director of global AI governance at The Future Society.

"It's true that AI companies are influential, but they are not sovereign," she told AFP.

Discussions at the Delhi summit, attended by tens of thousands from across the AI industry, including top tech CEOs, have covered big topics from child protections to job losses and the need for more equal access to AI tools worldwide.

"We are entering an era where humans and intelligence systems co-create, co-work and co-evolve," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday.

"We must resolve that AI is used for the global common good."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on tech tycoons to support a $3 billion global fund to boost AI skills and make computing power more affordable.

"The future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries -- or left to the whims of a few billionaires," he said.

R.Baker--SFF