San Francisco Frontiers - PM Modi, top tech bosses to address India AI summit

They are among those scheduled to speak at the AI Impact Summit as well as Google DeepMind head Demis Hassabis and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Frenzied demand for generative AI has turbocharged profits for many tech companies, but that has fuelled anxiety about the risks to society and the planet as the technology develops.

One fear is disruption to the job market, especially in India where millions of people are employed in call centres and tech support services.

"We are creating human imitators. And so of course, the natural application for that type of system is replacing humans," leading computer science researcher Stuart Russell told AFP.

This week's summit is the fourth annual international gathering focused on AI, following previous summits in Paris, Seoul and Britain's wartime code-breaking hub Bletchley.

It is the biggest one yet, with tens of thousands of attendees including dozens of world leaders and ministers.

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to join Modi on stage Thursday at the summit site, which also includes a vast technology expo.

The pair met this week in Mumbai where they celebrated their countries' ties, calling them a force for global stability.

A multibillion dollar fighter jet deal is also on the table -- with officials travelling with Macron expressing confidence that a contract for India to buy 114 Rafale aircraft can be finalised.

- New investments -

As the first global AI meeting held in a developing country, the five-day summit has also been a chance for India to boost its position in the booming sector.

The nation expects more than $200 billion in investments over the next two years, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Tuesday.

Google, Nvidia and other US tech titans have unveiled new deals, investments and infrastructure for the South Asian country.

"Since my childhood growing up in Chennai, India has undergone an incredible transformation," Google CEO Sundar Pichai told reporters on Wednesday.

"India is going to have an extraordinary trajectory with AI and we want to be a partner," he said, pledging to build subsea cables as part of an existing $15 billion AI infrastructure investment.

US chip behemoth Nvidia -- the world's most valuable company -- said it was teaming up with Indian cloud computing providers to provide advanced processors for data centres that can train and run AI systems.

AI data centres are under construction wordwide on a massive scale, as companies race to develop super-intelligent systems.

The huge amounts of electricity needed to power them and water to cool hot servers has sparked alarm at a time when countries have pledged to decarbonise their grids to try and slow climate change.

- Gridlock -

Last year India leapt to third place in an annual global ranking of AI competitiveness calculated by Stanford researchers, although experts say it has a long way to go before it can rival the United States and China.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is in town to attend the AI summit and hold talks with Modi, including on rare earths.

Delhi's chaotic roads have been gridlocked at points and summit organisers have faced criticism over crowded entry points and other disarray, especially on the first day.

Leaders are expected to deliver a statement at the end of the week about how they plan to handle AI technology.

But some say the broad focus of the event and vague promises made at previous global AI summits mean that concrete commitments are unlikely.

Many researchers and AI safety campaigners believe stronger action is needed to combat issues ranging from sexualised deepfakes to AI-enabled online scams and intrusive surveillance.

Siddharth Soni, the 23-year-old founder of an Indian AI-designed jewellery startup, said he could see both sides.

"We're losing artisans. We're losing the value of art, using AI, actually. That is one of the sad parts," he told AFP.

E.Cruz--SFF