India has joined the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) as a founding member to support responsible and human-centric development and use of AI, an official release said.

With this, India has joined the league of leading nations and economies including the US, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Singapore for the launch of GPAI.

India recently launched National AI Strategy and National AI Portal, and has also started leveraging AI across various sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare, e-commerce, finance, telecommunications.

“By joining GPAI as a founding member, India will actively participate in the global development of AI, leveraging upon its experience around use of digital technologies for inclusive growth,” the release added.

What is GPAI?

Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.

The first-of-its-type initiative for evolving better understanding of challenges and opportunities around AI using the experience and diversity of participating countries, the alliance will look to bridge the gap between theory and practice by supporting advanced research and applied activities on AI-related priorities.

In collaboration with partners and international organisations, GPAI will bring together leading experts from industry, civil society, governments, and academia to collaborate to promote responsible evolution of AI and will also evolve methodologies to show how AI can be leveraged to better respond to the present global crisis around COVID-19. 

GPAI will be supported by a Secretariat, to be hosted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, as well as by two Centers of Expertise — one each in Montreal and Paris.

GPAI was officially proposed by France and Canada at the G7 Summit in Biarritz in August 2019. G7 leaders then officially welcomed the OECD’s willingness to support their work to advance AI, in line with its recommendation on AI.

The GPAI will initially comprise four working groups focused on responsible AI, data governance, the future of work, and innovation and commercialisation.

Under the hosting arrangement being finalised, GPAI’s governance bodies, consisting of a Council and a Steering Committee, would be supported by a Secretariat housed at the OECD. 

The OECD would also be a permanent observer to GPAI’s governing bodies and its experts participate in the working groups and plenary meetings. Inaugural meetings of these groups are expected in late 2020. 

Hosting the GPAI Secretariat will strengthen the OECD’s potential to disseminate and implement its standards and its policy analysis in areas such as data governance, future of work, and diffusion and productivity.

The OECD’s AI principles, adopted in May 2019 and now supported by more than 40 countries, comprise five values-based principles for the responsible deployment of AI and five recommendations for international co-operation and policy. They offer a guide for designing and running AI systems in a way that puts people’s best interests first and ensuring that AI system designers and operators are held accountable for their proper functioning.

What is OECD?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation that works with governments, policymakers and citizens to work on establishing international norms and finding evidence-based solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges.

It was established in 1961 and has 37 member countries.

As a key partner, India is included in OECD analysis and statistical databases. Its participation in OECD bodies and fora is encouraged as a means of allowing Indian policy makers to benefit from the OECD’s technical expertise and analytical capacity.

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