Editorial 1: Right place and time
Recent Context:
- Recently, G20 summit was held in India that was concluded with the achievement of consensus on New Delhi Declaration
- The theme of India’s presidency Vasudhaiva kutumbakam — “one earth, one family one future” that is the philosophy of living in harmony with our surrounding ecosystem that we commit to concrete actions to address global challenges.”
Challenging situations ahead of India’s presidency
- In diplomacy especially, timing matters. India’s presidency of the G20 came at a time when the world was undergoing a geo-political churn.
- The Russia-Ukraine war had impacted the global economy after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- The economic shock of these twin events had a deep impact on developing and under-developed countries — the war came at a time when these countries were just trying to get back on their feet with the post-pandemic economic recovery.
- As India took over the presidency in December last year, it seized the opportunity to bring together the large group of about 120 countries that were bearing the brunt of the war.
- Along with it, India raised the the Voice of Global South and promised to place their ideas and concerns on the G20 high table.
Global south nations have major role to play in G 20
- India’s presidency was preceded and succeeded by that of other members of the Global South — Indonesia was the 2022 G20 chair, and Brazil was going to be next year’s chair in 2024, followed by South Africa in 2025.
- The fact that for four successive years, members of the Global South are chairing the G20 offered another opportunity.
India as global leader of global south
- India moved the proposal to invite the African Union as the 21st member of the G20 grouping.
- Including 55 countries in all, the AU comprises almost half of the Global South. This was in sync with India’s outreach to Africa since 2008 and in 2015, India hosted the India-Africa Forum summit which was attended by 40 leaders from the African continent
- In the last few years, India has committed more diplomatic resources towards Africa — it has announced 18 new embassies, which will take the number from 39 to 47 in the continent.
- The proposal had important backers in the US, France and China — an almost bipartisan consensus emerged across the geopolitical aisle.
- So, the timing was apt when India proposed that the African Union should be part of G20, as part of the Global South push to make the grouping more representative.
- Both the moves of the Voice of Global South and the inclusion of AU were mutually reinforcing and they helped India to craft a diplomatically nuanced language on the Russia-Ukraine war in the joint communique, the New Delhi G20 Leaders’ Declaration.
- Even, both warring parties in the G20 — the G7-led western grouping and the Russia-China bloc — acknowledged the concerns of the Global South, it became the key fulcrum, and the diplomatic outcome was clear with the entry of the African Union, lending weight to the seven paragraphs on the Ukraine conflict
- Therefore, India’s presidency achieved consensus for the joint communique with its careful combination of the right diplomatic timing and wide strategic vision.
Conclusion:
- India’s G20 Presidency strived for just and equitable growth for all in the world, navigating through turbulent times, in a sustainable, holistic, responsible, and inclusive manner.
- Therefore, the groundwork laid down during India’s G20 presidency strengthen the vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam means “the world is a family”, with India taking a leadership role.
Editorial 2: Cautiously on AI
Recent Context:
- Recently, The G20 Delhi Declaration stresses the importance of responsible artificial intelligence (AI) practices, including the protection of human rights, transparency, fairness, and accountability.
- Along with it, G7 nations agreed to draft an international AI code of conduct, focusing on drawing voluntary company commitments to prevent harm. Approximately 700 policy instruments are being discussed to regulate AI.
Areas of application of AI:
- AI now lights up our digital age, redefining progress. According to Stanford’s Artificial Index Report of 2023, private investment in AI has increased 18-fold since 2013, and company adoption has doubled since 2017.
- McKinsey projects that the annual value of AI could range from $17.1 trillion to $25.6 trillion. AI is on the ascent, with rising capabilities, affordable access, and widespread applications.
Challenges with AI:
- AI presents well-documented challenges in
- biased models
- privacy issues, and
- opaque decision-making
- As a result, it impacts diverse sectors. Generative AI’s rise risks tarnishing public discourse integrity with misinformation, disinformation, influence operations and personalised persuasion strategies, potentially eroding social trust.
- As AI begins to weave into the defence frameworks of nation-states, there is a risk that its inexplicable hallucinations and unchecked analyses might trigger unanticipated and unmanageable military escalations.
- Within the web of challenges, the possibility of Artificial General Intelligence has enhanced the hijacked possibility by malicious actors.
- The chilling potential for AI to autonomously chart its course, duplicate its capabilities and evolve unchecked has been articulated as a very real possibility in the years ahead.
- In 2023, in response to these challenges, global institutions undertook pivotal
interventions.
It is time for global regulation framework for AI :
- Recently, The draft EU AI Act and the US’s voluntary safeguards framework announced in concurrence with seven AI firms are two such interventions.
- Acknowledging risks potential with respect to AI:
- it would be inadvisable to impede the advancement of AI’s competence or “intelligence”. Our ability to address these issues without such technological advancements is limited.
- Just as Enrico Fermi’s team emphasised the importance of control rods in the development of the first nuclear reactor, our approach to AI should be centred on ensuring it remains under our control.
- Therefore, there is need to establish worldwide consensus regarding the risks of AI. Even a single vulnerability can create avenues for malicious actors to execute far-reaching breaches. It would be prudent to set up an international commission focused on iteratively working towards identifying risks associated with AI.
- Need to frame inclusive framework and standard for regulation on consensus basis:
- It is critical to conceptualise standards which must be met by any public AI service.
- Standards accelerate safety by
- minimising risks,
- advance quality,
- pave the path for private-public partnerships,
- promote efficiency by eliminating redundancies, and
- above all, when adopted at an international level, promote inter-operability across regions.
- For AI, we need to conceive socio-technical standards, which describe ideals and, equally importantly, the technical mechanisms to achieve them. AI, which will iterate as a technology, will need standards that adapt.
- Promoting transparency with accountability in AI developing through state participation:
- States would need a substantial stake in AI’s design, development, and deployment that currently dominated by a few companies.
- We must reimagine public-private partnership models and build regulatory sandbox zones wherein experiments for propelling the competitive advantage of entrepreneurs are matched by equitable solutions to social challenges.
- The recently announced partnership between the UAE Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah and Humans.AI to establish a zone where companies “securely govern and run their AI models with transparency” is one such pilot.
Conclusion:
- AI’s journey is filled with opportunities and challenges, demanding creativity, humility, and responsibility. While its potential is undeniable, its the future must be tempered with caution, foresight, and above all, control.