"Have to ensure AI does not reduce human intelligence," says Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan

• UK Secretary of State for Education: Have to embrace technology, huge opportunity in education
• UK Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: India the world leader in using AI for citizens' welfare
• Real lessons to be learnt from India says UK National Cyber Security Centre CEO

LONDON, June 29, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Artificial intelligence and India's technological progress spotlighted at India Global Forum's flagship 'IGF Studio' on Day 4 of UK-India Week 2023.

Calling it a debate between AI and HI, India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the challenge was to ensure Artificial Intelligence does not reduce Human Intelligence. "We don't have any option to judge whether it is good or bad. AI is there today, ChatGPT is there today. The debate that is going on is what about God-gifted human intelligence - this is a debate between Artificial Intelligence and Human Intelligence. Policymakers and academia are concerned about how it will affect normal critical thinking, but we have to accept innovation. How can we use AI in human civilisational development that is the responsibility with us today.  Data analytics, AI, ML, AR, BR are new tools to create ease of living in society.

Digitisation is the order of the day. Globalisation, mobility and future skills are the need of the 21^st century knowledge-based economy. AI is going to affect, help and promote these things in a big way. As a policymaker, we have to see that AI should not reduce human intelligence - that is the primary ethical aspect of the challenge."

Participating in the conversation with Pradhan, Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education observed, "There have been a couple of different reactions; some people have embraced it, a few have said we should pause it, it is going too fast and we don't know what it is going to do to various aspects of our life. In my experience, you don't get to pause technology, it happens so you have to embrace it. But we are at the beginning of the journey. Every G20 country will be grappling with the same challenges at the same time.  There is huge opportunity within education."

India's digital growth was praised by Jonathan Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, UK. "Who is the world's leader in using AI to improve welfare services? Who is the leader in using AI, design and tech can provide citizens with their rights, social security payments they are entitled to, or providing their citizens the opportunities to progress? It is India! And as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address to the US Congress, this has been a remarkable progress.

AI can be better utilised in the UK to ensure our citizens rightly get their entitlements and I really want to learn from India and the tech companies and government in India about how we can best adopt some of the remarkable progress we have seen in India."

Identifying cyber co-operation as crucial to the 2030 Roadmap, Lindy Cameron, CEO, National Cyber Security Centre, UK said, "But India goes so far beyond that. The market is huge, both as a set of consumers and also a potential producer of low-cost technology for so much of the globe. So, the standards that India sets, the demands that it makes for its own domestic market will shape how technology is used in so much else of the world. So, we want to be part of the conversation thinking about how to work with that."

Encompassing 12 marquee events with 150 speakers and 2,000+ participants, 'UK-India Week 2023' brings together business leaders, policymakers, and thought leaders from India and the UK to discuss opportunities for further collaboration and growth between the two countries.

For highlights from the day, a list of Speakers, and programme details, click here

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