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The debate over the safety and sanctity of electoral processes using <keyword id="20051732" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="electronic-voting-machines" source="keywords">electronic voting machines</keyword> (<keyword id="20059791" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="EVMs" source="keywords">EVMs</keyword>) have been a long, and often unfruitful, discourse across most electoral democracies. However, on Sunday, a similar debate in <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords">India</keyword> took an interesting turn as the richest person on the world and India's former Minister of State for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology engaged over the same topic on social media. In a Sunday showdown on X (formerly Twitter), former Union minister <keyword id="19957657" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajeev-Chandrasekhar" source="keywords">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword> took on tech magnate <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword> over the security of EVMs. Musk had raised eyebrows by labeling EVMs as risky due to potential hacking threats, but Chandrasekhar was quick to fire back, calling Musk's claim "a huge sweeping generalization". The debate ignited when Musk suggested scrapping EVMs entirely, citing hacking risks from both humans and AI, referencing voting irregularities reported in Puerto Rico's primary elections. Responding to the independent US presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr's concerns over voting irregularities in Puerto Rico, Musk posted, "We should eliminate electronic voting machines. The risk of being hacked by humans or AI, while small, is still too high." Similar doubts have been cast over the use of EVMs by the Indian election commission for the last two decades. However, ever since several sweeping victories of the ruling party BJP at both central and state levels since 2014, such allegations have gained pace from multiple mainstream opposition leaders. Chandrasekhar was clearly not happy with Elon's claims. He countered, "This is a huge sweeping generalization statement that implies no one can build secure digital hardware. Wrong." He stressed that Indian EVMs are a different breed compared to their global counterparts. "Indian EVMs are custom-designed, secure, and isolated from any network. No connectivity, no Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Internet—there is no way in. Factory programmed controllers that cannot be reprogrammed," he elaborated. Doubling down on his retort, Chandrasekhar offered to educate Musk on the secure architecture of Indian EVMs. "We would be happy to run a tutorial, Elon," he quipped. Musk, undeterred, responded with a succinct retort: "Anything can be hacked." <div type="javascript" title="Custom" contenttype="Text"><cdata><![CDATA[ ]]></cdata></div> Congress leader <keyword id="19895780" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rahul-gandhi" source="keywords">Rahul Gandhi</keyword> also joined the fray soon, expressing his concerns about the opacity of Indian EVMs. He described them as a "black box" and argued that the lack of <keyword id="19942992" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="transparency" source="keywords">transparency</keyword> undermines democracy. "Democracy ends up becoming a sham and prone to fraud when institutions lack accountability," Gandhi stated, referencing a media report on an alleged EVM unlock linked to a relative of a Shiv Sena candidate in Mumbai's north-west constituency. Gandhi also referenced Musk's stance on eliminating EVMs. The chorus of skepticism around EVMs has been a consistent theme among opposition parties in India, who have long advocated for a full count of VVPAT slips—a demand yet to be met by the Indian Election Commission. The commission, however, has repeatedly dismissed concerns over EVMs and demonstrated their safety in multiple ways. Advocates of democratic sanctity even claim that casting doubts over the electoral process threatens the very fabric of a robust democracy. This ongoing debate highlights a significant divide: on one side, leaders like Chandrasekhar defend the integrity and security of India's EVMs and advocate their use for greater efficiency in elections. On the other, Musk, Gandhi, and several other leaders across the globe have raised serious concerns about their vulnerability and lack of transparency. As the debate continues, the question of how best to secure democratic processes in the digital age remains a hot topic. (With inputs from PTI)

Elon Musk Vs Rajeev Chandrasekhar Vs Rahul Gandhi: The great EVM debate

As <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> prepares to organise its first-ever global artificial intelligence (<keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ai" source="Orion">AI</keyword>) summit in December, Walter Sun, Global Head of AI at cloud software major <keyword id="6358384" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sap" source="Orion">SAP</keyword>, has said that the government and other stakeholders can learn a lot from companies like SAP in terms of helping provide the information they need to make robust decisions on AI. In a conversation with IANS, Sun who is an industry veteran with more than 18 years, said that the more informed the governments are on AI, the more enlightened decisions can be made to accelerate innovation without harming end-users. "The more we connect with the government on building responsible AI together, the more it will also become easier for us to innovate while talking about proper regulations for the whole industry," he noted. "We spend a lot of time talking to customers and working on the latest technologies. So governments can learn a lot from us in terms of helping provide the information they need to make better decisions," the SAP executive told on the sidelines of the company's flagship 'TechEd' conference in Bengaluru this week. After the successful AI Safety Summit in the UK, the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) in New Delhi next month will further deliberate upon the risks associated with artificial intelligence (AI) -- in the presence of world leaders -- before a global framework is reached in Korea next year, according to <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, Minister of State for Electronics and IT. As the council chair of GPAI, India is set to host the annual summit at Pragati Maidan in Delhi from December 12-14. Sun's technological journey extends back to 2005, when he held pivotal roles in research and product development at Microsoft. Notably, he was instrumental in the creation of Bing Predicts, a pioneering platform utilising anonymised and aggregated data for predictive analytics. This innovation enabled the integration of AI features across <keyword id="696988" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bing-search" source="Orion">Bing Search</keyword>, Windows, Dynamics 365, and the Power Platform. Sun has a strong belief in the ability of generative AI to revolutionise various industries. "Responsible AI is on top of the mind for SAP. I think it's extremely important that whenever we build AI, especially generative AI which has a much larger footprint of algorithmically produced content, we keep a close eye on what we're delivering to our customers," Sun emphasised. "We know that governments care so we want to partner with them. We also want to lead the way ourselves because we know AI technology. We can partner with governments to explain what we're doing and hope that they can follow our leads," he added. According to him, generative AI can help businesses save money, make them more efficient and productive and also make the lives of employees better, as the realms of enterprise software and AI continue to converge. As generative AI begins to disrupt businesses of all sizes globally and in India, Cloud solutions major SAP this week launched new AI capabilities and advancements for developers to build generative AI-based apps and solutions. With Sun at the helm of SAP's AI initiatives, the company is poised to usher in a new era of innovation, offering clients groundbreaking solutions to tackle their most pressing problems. (<keyword id="1588655" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nishant-arora" source="Orion">Nishant Arora</keyword> can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in) --IANS na/ksk

Our learnings can help India's mission to create responsible AI: SAP's global AI head

As concerns grow about the disruption that artificial intelligence (<keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ai" source="Orion">AI</keyword>) might bring, India, along with 27 other countries, including the US and the UK, and the European Union, have signed a declaration pledging to work on the assessment of risks linked with AI at the first-ever 'AI Safety Summit' hosted by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The declaration was signed on the opening day of the summit at Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, on November 1. "We welcome the international community's efforts so far to cooperate on AI to promote inclusive economic growth, sustainable development and innovation, to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and to foster public trust and confidence in AI systems to fully realise their potential," the declaration reads. "We welcome relevant international efforts to examine and address the potential impact of AI systems in existing fora and other relevant initiatives, and the recognition that the protection of human rights, transparency and explainability, fairness, accountability, regulation, safety, appropriate human oversight, ethics, bias mitigation, privacy and data protection needs to be addressed," it added. The Bletchley Declaration emphasised the importance of AI in several aspects of daily life, including housing, employment, transportation, education, healthcare, accessibility, and justice. It noted that the use of AI in these sectors is likely to grow in the future. Meanwhile, addressing the summit in the UK, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, has said that by allowing innovation to get ahead of regulation, the countries faced misinformation and weaponisation of the internet, represented by social media, and we should not let that happen with AI in the future. "We have learned in the last 10-15 years as governments that by allowing innovation to get ahead of regulation, we opened ourselves to the toxicity and the misinformation and the weaponisation that we see on the Internet today, represented by social media," said the minister. This is not what "we should chart for the coming years in terms of AI". SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/india-q3-smartphone-shipments-apple-gains-34-pc-market-share-in-india/articleshow/104907807.cms">Smartphone shipments: Apple gains 34% market share in India as Samsung, Xiaomi decline</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/indias-electric-two-wheelers-up-and-running-after-reduced-fame-subsidy-bump/articleshow/104912419.cms">India’s electric two-wheelers up and running after reduced FAME subsidy bump</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/mercedes-benz-gle-facelift-heres-what-the-luxury-suv-packs-at-96-4-lakh/articleshow/104912934.cms">Mercedes-Benz GLE Facelift – Here’s what the luxury SUV packs at ₹96.4 lakh</a>

India, EU and 27 nations sign world's 1st pact to mitigate AI threats

<ul><li>US-based <keyword id="154806" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="micron-technology" source="Orion">Micron Technology</keyword> broke grounds for its about Rs 22,500 crore ($2.75 billion) chip assembly and test facility in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>.</li><li>Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that India has embarked upon its journey to become a semiconductor hub.</li><li><keyword id="178039" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="micron" source="Orion">Micron</keyword> has committed to investing up to $825 million in building the semiconductor assembly and test facility in India, with support from the government.</li></ul> Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said that India has embarked upon its journey to become a semiconductor hub, as US-based Micron Technology broke grounds for its about Rs 22,500 crore ($2.75 billion) chip assembly and test facility here. Stressing that India will soon need 5 lakh crore chips to meet the growing demand, the minister said within three months of Prime Minister Narendra Modi meeting Sanjay Mehrotra, the President and CEO of Micron Technology in the US, the company has started construction on its plant which is unprecedented. Micron has committed to investing up to $825 million in building the semiconductor assembly and test facility in India, with support from the government. The combined investment of $2.75 billion is projected to create around 5,000 direct jobs and offer 15,000 community job opportunities over the next five years. <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said that for a country that has missed several opportunities for the last 70 years, this is a historic and epic moment. "We have made tremendous strides in the last 9-10 years. It is certainly a very important milestone and I have absolutely no doubt that this Micron's state-of-the-art plant will be a beacon to all investors, other manufacturers and participants in the global semiconductor ecosystem," Chandrasekhar told the gathering. The Assembly, Test, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) of the company is being set up on 93 acres in Sanand GIDC-II industrial estate and is expected to be commissioned within 18 months. The facility will focus on transforming wafers into Ball Grid Array (BGA) - integrated circuit packages, memory modules and solid-state drives. In July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised 50 per cent financial assistance to players wishing to set up semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the country. At the SemiconIndia 2023 in Gandhinagar, he had said that "we are continuously carrying out policy reforms to accelerate the growth of the country's semiconductor sector". (Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in) SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/webstories/motorola-edge-40-neo-vs-iqoo-z7-pro-mobiles-comparison-under-25000/slidelist/103858109.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/webstories/motorola-edge-40-neo-vs-iqoo-z7-pro-mobiles-comparison-under-25000/slidelist/103858109.cms" target="_blank">Motorola Edge 40 Neo vs iQOO Z7 Pro – The phone to consider under ₹25,000</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/amazfit-cheetah-series-smartwatches-with-ai-powered-running-coach-launched-in-india/articleshow/103836676.cms">A smartwatch in India now offers an AI-powered running coach</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-5-review-price-and-features/articleshow/103760937.cms">Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review – The foldable segment’s bar raised</a>

Micron begins construction on $2.7 bn India semiconductor plant in 'epic' beginning

New Delhi, <keyword id="1394196" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="IBM-Chairman" source="Orion">IBM Chairman</keyword> and CEO <keyword id="202173" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="arvind-krishna" source="Orion">Arvind Krishna</keyword> on Monday emphasised that artificial intelligence (AI) does need guardrails and regulations to avoid user harm, but the focus should be on regulating bad use cases, not to pause the overall technology which has tremendous potential to transform the world. A strong proponent of AI and its future impact on certain repetitive and mundane human tasks, Krishna told IANS that some of the fears associated with AI are well-founded. "With AI, there a possibility that you can have misinformation spread really fast now. AI can make misinformation more persuasive. However, stopping AI won't achieve any purpose as bad actors will move from one country to another to spread harm as AI can easily cross boundaries," noted the Indian-origin CEO of the tech behemoth. In such a scenario, regulating bad and harmful use cases of AI would be a sensible and practical way forward. "The goal should be to spot those bad AI use cases and tell those behind it that if we catch you, you can be subjected to penalties, fines and criminal cases, etc," said Krishna. During the 'B20 Summit India 2023' last week, Krishna saidAI will take on certain low-level tasks and boost overall productivity, thus helping economics and companies grow faster. The aim, he said, is to make sure that tech companies have a "secure and accountable AI". Meanwhile, the Indian government will not regulate AI but rather adopt the approach of regulating user harm from AI and create robust guardrails, Union Minister of <keyword id="9950217" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="state-for-electronics" source="Orion">State for Electronics</keyword> and IT, <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, recently told IANS. "AI will be a kinetic enabler of our digital economy and the government sees it that way," the Minister stressed. Krishna also maintained that we need to make the bad actors pay in the ever-evolving field of AI. "I don't think pausing or licensing AI altogether will be an effective step," he told IANS. India aims to become a global powerhouse of AI which does not just stop on integrating foreign chatbots but building next-generation AI-based innovations to empower billions of citizens. (Nishant Arora can be reached atnishant.a@ians.in) --IANS na/ksk

Regulate bad AI use cases, not whole tech: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna

New Delhi, The <keyword id="296566" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="it-ministry" source="Orion">IT Ministry</keyword> will send a notice to <keyword id="790242" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="whatsapp" source="Orion">WhatsApp</keyword> on the issue of <keyword id="2232456" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="spam-calls" source="Orion">spam calls</keyword> from unknown international numbers, Minister of State for IT Rajeev <keyword id="79017" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Chandrasekhar</keyword> on Thursday said, asserting that the onus of ensuring user safety lies with the digital platforms. The digital platforms are responsible and accountable for ensuring the safety of 'digital nagriks', the minister said, adding that the government will respond to every instance of alleged misuse or alleged breach of users' privacy. The minister's comments assume significance as WhatsApp users in India have reported a massive surge in incoming international spam calls over the past few days. Many users complained on Twitter that a major chunk of these spam calls had country codes belonging to Indonesia (+62), Vietnam (+84), Malaysia (+60), Kenya (+254) and Ethiopia (+251). Chandrasekhar on Tuesday said the ministry is taking note of the matter and will send a notice to WhatsApp on the issue. "The Ministry is taking note of it, they will send them a notice," he told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the Public Affairs Forum of India (PAFI). He also said that the government is mulling guidelines on what should be permissions for preloaded apps. The minister made it clear that the platforms are responsible for ensuring the safety and trust of users. "I have said repeatedly that openness trust, safety and accountability are the responsibility of platforms who deliver to digital nagriks," the minister noted. If there is an issue of spam, it is certainly an issue WhatsApp should look at or any messenger platform should look at, he added. "Government will respond to every alleged misuse or alleged breach of privacy," he said. One of the problems being examined at this point is also how these numbers are accessed by scammers. "How are they able to identify which numbers are on WhatsApp...are they doing it blindly...is it some database they have got? If there is a database it is a violation of privacy, or if not are they are doing it through a bot... sending messages to random numbers... But that is certainly something platforms will be asked to look at," he said. Chandrasekhar tweeted on Wednesday that the government will investigate a claim that WhatsApp accessed the microphone of smartphone users while the phone was not in use. In a tweet, the minister had said the government will examine the alleged breach of privacy even as the new Digital Personal Data Protection Bill was being readied. This followed a claim that WhatsApp accessed a user's microphone while he was sleeping. WhatsApp responded saying it has been in touch with the Twitter engineer over the last 24 hours, who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp. "We believe this is a bug on Android that misattributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate," WhatsApp said in a tweet. The company also claimed that users have full control over their mic settings. To a question on some online gaming platforms opposing any idea of the self-regulatory organisation (SRO) backed by the association IAMAI, the minister said it has already been clarified during the consultation process that no existing industry organisation can be an SRO. "SRO has to be notified by the Ministry, which means SRO has to be approved by the Ministry as meeting criteria laid down in online gaming rules. There will be SRO that will be formed...100 will apply, and three will be selected based on who is most transparent, inclusive and who represents most stakeholders and who is more credible," the minister said. On the draft digital personal data protection Bill, Chandrasekhar said he is hopeful that it will be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.

IT ministry to send notice to WhatsApp on international spam calls issue: Chandrasekhar

Union minister <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword> on Friday said that the government will regulate <keyword id="107950" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="Orion">Artificial Intelligence</keyword> technology in order to ensure that it doesn't harm 'digital citizens'. "Our approach towards <keyword id="6355999" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ai" source="Orion">AI</keyword> regulation is very simple. We will regulate AI as we regulate Web 3 or any emerging technologies to ensure they do not harm digital citizens," Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics and Technology said at a press conference to highlight the digital initiatives taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government so far. "We will safeguard digital citizens through this technology," he said, adding companies willing to operate in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> have to mitigate user harm in the first place. He also touched upon the concerns about potential job loss from those disruptive and said that AI in its current form is no threat to jobs. According to him, AI as a technology in its current form is largely task-oriented and not capable of dealing with a situation where logic and reasoning are needed. "While AI is disruptive we do not see in the next few years the so-called threat of replacing the jobs. Because the current stage of the development of AI is very task-oriented and not reasoning, logic and etc." "Jobs usually have reasoning and logic and AI is not as sophisticated at this point," the minister said. Given India's strong IT industry and a large set of data, AI-based utilities can leverage huge potential in the country. Though AI is still in its early stages. Many countries have been using AI technologies for better service delivery and to reduce human intervention but fears of job cuts remain as the technology evolves. On Thursday, OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman, whose company deals with artificial intelligence technologies and has created ChatGPT, met Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="narendra-modi" source="Orion">Narendra Modi</keyword> here in the national capital and discussed various aspects of AI including the need for global regulation. In a tweet, after meeting Altman, PM Modi wrote that the potential of AI in India's tech ecosystem is vast -- among the youth in particular. Meanwhile, Chandrasekhar expressed his gratitude to PM Modi for India's development on the digital front, and the onset of advancements like the fastest internet services, and 5G. "In the last 9 years, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visionary leadership, the country has transformed. The digital economy and the technology sector have transformed under his leadership, under his vision," he said. He spoke about the country's transformation since "the bad days of United Progressive Alliance (UPA's) led by Congress lost decade when people were running away from the country, there were scams every day and nobody was making any investment." He emphasised that India has made huge advancements since then, referring to it as "receiving the highest FDI" and "creating more jobs than ever before." He said India is now a sector that the rest of the world wants to partner with. "The world wants to partner with Indian entrepreneurship and Indian entrepreneurs to build the technologies of the future," said the minister. He lauded PM Modi for these achievements and advancements saying, "I think the people will certainly agree that PM Narendra Modi Ji needs to be thanked for 9 years of tremendously hardworking seva that he has done for our country and our youth." SEE ALSO:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/realme-11-pro-5g-review-a-mid-ranger-with-a-premium-design/articleshow/100865073.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/realme-11-pro-5g-review-a-mid-ranger-with-a-premium-design/articleshow/100865073.cms" target="_blank">Realme 11 Pro 5G review – a mid-ranger with a premium design</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/bmw-m2-launched-in-india-here-are-some-of-the-top-sports-cars-available-in-the-country/slidelist/100874746.cms" target="_blank"></a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/bmw-m2-launched-in-india-here-are-some-of-the-top-sports-cars-available-in-the-country/slidelist/100874746.cms" target="_blank">BMW M2 comes to India: Here’s how it compares with top sports cars in the country</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-dominates-smartwatch-market-accounts-for-over-a-quarter-of-global-sales-in-q1-2023/articleshow/100522354.cms">India dominates smartwatch market, accounts for over a quarter of global sales in Q1 2023</a>

Will regulate AI and ensure it doesn't harm digital citizens: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

As the world goes gaga over <keyword id="7795449" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="AI-chatbots" source="Orion">AI chatbots</keyword>, Union Minister of <keyword id="9950217" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="state-for-electronics" source="Orion">State for Electronics</keyword> and IT <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajeev-Chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword> has a clear vision: To make India a global powerhouse of AI which does not just stop on integrating foreign chatbots but building next-generation of AI-based innovations to <keyword id="13880162" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="empower" botkeyword="" source="ET" sourcekeytype="COMPANY" meta.keywordsubtype="EQ" meta.aliasname="empower" meta.entityname="Empower India Ltd." meta.entityid="3850" meta.seoname="empower-india-ltd">empower</keyword> billions of citizens. <keyword id="79017" type="General" weightage="90" keywordseo="chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Chandrasekhar</keyword> told IANS that artificial intelligence (AI) is a "kinetic enabler" of the digital economy and the government will infuse more of this disruptive technology into its '<keyword id="3264646" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="india-stack" source="Orion">India Stack</keyword>'. "AI will certainly transform the digital economy and grow the business economy in the country. We are launching a very comprehensive programme called the INDIAai Programme and you will see more AI use cases via the India stack -- Aadhaar, Unified Payments Interface (<keyword id="6358921" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="upi" source="Orion">UPI</keyword>), DigiLocker, CoWIN and more," Chandrasekhar emphasised. "AI, as I have said, is a 'kinetic enabler' of the digital economy and we want to be the global leader in AI," the Minister told IANS. This week, Chandrasekhar met Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and had a "good, interesting conversation about India Stack and Artificial Intelligence (AI)". The government, in the Union Budget for FY24, announced to open three centres of excellence for artificial intelligence (AI) at the top educational institutions, for realising the vision of "Make AI in India" and "Make AI Work for India". According to Chandrasekhar, the government is expanding the INDIAai initiative in partnership with homegrown tech companies, startups and academic institutions under a comprehensive AI programme. The Bhashini team at the IT Ministry aims to build a National Public Digital Platform for languages to develop services and products for citizens by leveraging the power of AI and other emerging technologies. It is creating a unifying architecture, underpinned by principles of open data and open source software, to enable contributions from the research initiatives and the ecosystem. Bhashini, the natural language AI platform, "will enable automated language translation", according to Chandrasekhar who had a three decades' long career in the technology domain before making his foray into politics. According to him, India Stack will become more nuanced, intelligent and sophisticated in its next avatar, as more and more enterprises and countries across the world innovate and integrate, execute, and implement digital transformation. "Our mission as a nation is to offer India Stack or the part of the stack to those enterprises and countries across the world who want to innovate and further integrate, execute, and implement digital transformation," said the Minister. India currently ranks first in terms of AI skill penetration and AI talent concentration and fifth in AI scientific publications, a Nasscom report said last month. India's 'AI Skills Penetration Factor' has been reported to be 3.09 -- the highest among all G20 and OECD countries. More than 1,900 AI-focused startups are providing innovative solutions in the country, primarily in the areas of conversational AI, NLP, video analytics, disease detection, fraud prevention and deep fakes detection. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/us-received-enough-visa-applications-to-meet-h-2b-cap-for-h2-fy23/articleshow/98383408.cms">US received enough visa applications to meet H-2B cap for H2 FY23</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sports/news/ronaldinhos-son-joao-mendes-follows-fathers-footsteps-joins-barcelona-academy/articleshow/98383353.cms">Ronaldinho's son Joao Mendes follows father's footsteps, joins Barcelona academy</a>

We're building next-gen AI to become a global powerhouse: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The upcoming Digital Personal Data Protection <keyword id="19032" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="bill" source="Orion">Bill</keyword> will drive "deep behavioural changes" among those platforms in <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> that have for long exploited or misused personal data, <keyword id="6357801" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="union" source="Orion">Union</keyword> minister <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword> has asserted. In an interview to PTI, the minister of state for IT and electronics also sought to allay concerns around the issue of government-appointed fact check body, saying the move is not about censorship at all, rather it gives the Centre an opportunity to clarify and respond to any <keyword id="535763" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="misinformation" source="Orion">misinformation</keyword> related to it, something that is critical in a democracy. Misinformation, he said, is not to be confused with right to free speech. The minister noted that misinformation tends to travel 10-15 times faster, and reaches an audience 20-50 times more, than truth. He emphasised that it is absolutely critical that in a democracy if someone says something false about the government, to create hatred, to incite violence, or to just create mistrust, "the government must have an opportunity to say no, this is not true". "So there is no censorship, there no restriction on free speech. This is simply about saying what is patently false, is patently false. And that is certainly not to be confused or deliberately distorted to imply that this is a crackdown on free speech," Chandrasekhar said. The minister's comment assumes significance as the decision to notify an entity that will flag false information posted online pertaining to the government has raised concerns in some quarters on whether it gives government absolute powers. "I think there is some misunderstanding about what it is we are trying to do," the minister said when asked about the issue. "Misinformation is expressly an area that has already been prescribed in the rules as an area that platforms have to do significant work in moderating misinformation if they are to enjoy Section 79 protection. It is already mandated in the rules of October 2022," he said. Rather, the fact check unit aims to help platforms in identifying false content posted about the government. "It is not an opinion. It is not about saying that we will create another narrative about the government," Chandrasekhar added. On the digital personal data protection (DPDP) bill, which will be introduced in the coming session of <keyword id="6354721" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="parliament" source="Orion">Parliament</keyword>, the minister said the draft legislation has undergone a lot of consultation and is designed as "a truly world class piece of legislation". "I have absolutely no doubt that the DPDP Bill will create deep behavioural changes among platforms in India who have for long exploited and misused personal data," the minister said. At the same time, those who have played fair will not get affected, and will continue to do the right thing, he observed. "Those who have done it (misused data), tracked consumers, used cookies they certainly will have to go though deep behavioural change... Those who are already doing it right, have nothing to fear. But those who have, in a sense, lived off this model of exploitation will certainly have to reconsider," minister said. He expressed hope that the bill will come up in the Monsoon session of Parliament. The draft bill - which has seen an overhaul after its withdrawal in August last year - details the citizen's rights on personal data, with provisions that makes entities handling personal data accountable for managing it with safety and security in a responsible manner. "The purpose of this bill is to provide for the processing of digital personal data in a manner that recognises the right of individuals to protect their personal data, the need to process personal data for lawful purposes and for other incidental purposes," an explanatory note of the draft bill said. The proposed data protection legislation allows the transfer and storage of personal data in some countries while raising the penalty for violations. The proposed legislation stipulates consent before collecting personal data and provides for stiff penalties of as much as Rs 500 crore on persons and companies that fail to prevent data breaches including accidental disclosures, sharing, altering or destroying personal data. On being asked about Meta being fined a record-breaking USD 1.3 billion recently by European Union regulators for violating EU privacy laws, and whether India too can look at large financial deterrants for Big Tech for non-compliance of laws, the Minister said idea is not about competing with the EU on size of penalties. "I don't think we are in the business of competing with the EU in terms of the size of the penalty, but the formulation of penalties in this Bill is sufficient to incentivise every data fiduciary or any platform to behave correctly, to follow the law, and do the right thing," he said. The days when platform could exploit the data of consumers is fast coming to an end, he said, adding there are many powers under the bill that have been given to the Indian consumer to interrogate, search, check what data the platforms have. "...and I think certainly it's a balance of protecting the consumer rights, as well as continuing to allow innovation and investments," the minister said. On WhatsApp spam call issue, Chandrasekhar said that the government has called out to WhatsApp and other messenger companies about the problem and emphasised that it is unacceptable. "They have responded with alacrity and responded very quickly. They are searching out many solutions. We have also asked them to give to us what are the overseas telecom carriers from where these originate, so that we can talk to BSNL, and to our own <keyword id="150664" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="telecom-department" source="Orion">Telecom Department</keyword> to make sure that these carriers are also warned that there is unlawful activities originating from their networks, and that if that continues, we may have to look at some kind of a discussion of whether those networks will be allowed to terminate in India as well," he said. The government and players are not adversaries, rather they work in partnership, he said, adding that a safe and trusted internet for 1.2 billion consumers "is good for business, government, and for citizens". SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/india-dominates-smartwatch-market-accounts-for-over-a-quarter-of-global-sales-in-q1-2023/articleshow/100522354.cms">India dominates smartwatch market, accounts for over a quarter of global sales in Q1 2023</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/finance/news/2000-note-withdrawal-how-to-exchange-notes-is-it-a-legal-tender-and-other-questions-answered/articleshow/100412941.cms">₹2,000 note withdrawal – How to exchange them, is it a legal tender and other questions answered</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/electric-scooters-and-bikes-may-get-costlier-as-government-looks-to-revamp-the-fame-ii-scheme/articleshow/100321089.cms">Electric two wheelers may get costlier as government looks to revamp the FAME-II scheme</a>

Data protection bill to drive deep behavioural changes for platforms exploiting data: Chandrasekhar

<ul><li><keyword id="790242" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="whatsapp" source="Orion">WhatsApp</keyword> is cracking down on international scam calls to Indian users.</li><li>This comes after minister of state for IT <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword> said the ministry will send a notice to WhatsApp.</li><li>WhatsApp, which has over 500 million users in India, is employing AI and ML to reduce spam calls.</li></ul> Popular messaging app WhatsApp is cracking the whip on international scam calls after Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the ministry will send a notice to WhatsApp over the issue. Over the past few weeks, there has been a significant increase in Indian WhatsApp users receiving spam calls from international numbers. WhatsApp has over 500 million users in India. “The Ministry is taking note of it, they will send them a notice. I have said repeatedly that openness, trust, safety and accountability are the responsibility of platforms who deliver to digital nagriks,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for IT at an event. The Meta-owned platform has now issued a statement saying it is aligned with the government in keeping users safe. "Protecting the privacy and security of users is fundamental to <keyword id="399907" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="meta" source="Orion">Meta</keyword> and to WhatsApp. Our users are at the heart of everything we do and we are fully aligned with the Government's goal of keeping users safe. WhatsApp is a leader among end-to-end encrypted services in protecting user safety,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement. “International scam calls is a new way that bad actors have recently adopted. By giving a missed call, they lead curious users to call or message back only to get scammed,” the spokesperson said. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="WhatsApp to use AI and ML to fight international spam calls" comment="subhead" text="WhatsApp to use AI and ML to fight international spam calls">WhatsApp to use AI and ML to fight international spam calls</cmsannotation> WhatsApp has said that it already offers tools like block and report that helps users prevent scammers from contacting them again. Amid an increase in international spam calls, WhatsApp is taking help of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). The company has claimed that the revamped systems will be able to reduce the spam call rates by at least 50%. This means that a significant number of users may still receive spam calls for now. “Therefore, we have quickly ramped up our AI &amp; ML systems to bring down such incidents significantly. Our new enforcement will reduce the current calling rate by at least 50% and we expect to be able to control the current incidence effectively. We will continue to work relentlessly towards ensuring a safe experience for our users,” the spokesperson added. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/android-14-beta-2-announced-features-eligible-devices-and-how-to-download/articleshow/100155614.cms">Android 14 Beta 2 announced – features, eligible devices, and how to download</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/survey-reveals-three-out-of-four-indians-suffer-from-nomophobia-heres-what-it-means/articleshow/100073985.cms">Survey reveals three out of four Indians suffer from NoMoPhobia: Here’s what it means</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/nothing-phone-2-confirmed-to-launch-soon-with-snapdragon-8-gen-1-may-come-with-an-alert-slider/articleshow/99978052.cms">Nothing phone (2) confirmed to launch soon with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, may come with an alert slider</a>

WhatsApp is cracking down on international scam calls after India’s IT ministry takes notice

<ul><li><keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword> cross record more than ₹85,000 crore in mobile exports in the fiscal year ending March 31.</li><li>Buoyed by attractive government incentives towards local manufacturing, India surpassed a remarkable $10 billion worth smartphone exports in the fiscal year 2022-2023.</li><li>Smartphone exports from India have doubled from a corresponding period from the last fiscal year, driven by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes.</li></ul>New Delhi, The government push towards local manufacturing of consumer electronics items has helped India cross record more than ₹85,000 crore in mobile exports in the fiscal year ending March 31, industry data showed on Saturday. Buoyed by attractive government incentives towards local manufacturing, India surpassed a remarkable $10 billion worth smartphone exports in the fiscal year 2022-2023, according to the data provided by the <keyword id="7825659" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india-cellular-and-electronics-association" source="Orion">India Cellular and Electronics Association</keyword> (<keyword id="6816005" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="icea" source="Orion">ICEA</keyword>) to IANS. Smartphone exports from India have doubled from a corresponding period from the last fiscal year, driven by production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes. The top five global destinations India currently exports mobile phones to are the UAE, the US, the Netherlands, the UK and Italy, according to the ICEA data. "The mobile phone industry will cross $40 billion manufacturing output and 25 per cent exports at $10 billion is a stellar performance," Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman of ICEA, had earlier told IANS. More than 97 per cent of the smartphones sold in India are now being produced locally. India is now the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. According to Minister of State for Electronics and IT, <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, the year 2023 will be a milestone as the country will cross Rs 1 lakh crore in mobile phone exports this year. India is likely to produce 45-50 per cent of Apple's <keyword id="57315" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="iphones" source="Orion">iPhones</keyword> by 2027, at par with China, where 80-85 per cent of iPhones were produced in 2022. According to estimates, India and Vietnam are to become the biggest beneficiaries of smartphone supply chain migration out of China. India accounted for 10-15 per cent of iPhones' overall production capacity at the end of 2022. Apple became the first smartphone player in India to have exported $1 billion worth iPhones in the month of December. It currently manufactures iPhones 12, 13, 14 and 14 Plus in the country. The country is now moving in a different direction, "which is largely export-focused and led by the government's performance-linked scheme (PLI) pusha. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/cert-in-warns-of-high-severity-vulnerabilities-in-apple-products-urges-immediate-action/articleshow/99231900.cms">CERT-In warns of high-severity vulnerabilities in Apple products, urges immediate action</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/googles-new-features-to-simplify-travel-planning-including-a-mobile-friendly-hotel-browsing-feature-a-price-guarantee-badge-for-flights-and-more/articleshow/99235884.cms">Google’s new features to simplify travel planning, including a mobile-friendly hotel browsing feature, a price guarantee badge for flights, and more</a>

India surpasses ₹85,000 cr worth mobile phone exports in FY23

The government on Wednesday said there are no plans for security testing for smartphones or crackdown on pre-installed applications, as the sole emphasis is on ease of doing business and boost local electronics manufacturing. Responding to a media report, Union Minister of <keyword id="9950217" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="state-for-electronics" source="Orion">State for Electronics</keyword> and IT, <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, said that there is no "security testing" or "crackdown" plans for smartphone makers at the end of the government. "@GoI_MeitY is 100 per cent committed to 'Ease of Doing Business' and is totally focused on growing electronics manufacturing to touch $300 billion by 2026," the minister said in a tweet. Electronics manufacturing in the country is likely to cross Rs 1.28 lakh crore in the next financial year, according to Chandrasekhar. "The mobile phone production in India had increased from 5.8 crore units valued at about Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 31 crore units valued at over Rs 2,75,000 crore in the last financial year, as a result of various initiatives of the government, including the 'Phased Manufacturing programme'," Finance Minister <keyword id="129243" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="nirmala-sitharaman" source="Orion">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword> had said during her Union Budget 2023-24 speech in Parliament. In the period from April-December 2022, mobile phone exports reached nearly $7-8 billion, and is expected to cross $9 billion for the fiscal year. The government has set a target to achieve $300 billion of electronics manufacturing by 2025-26, out of which $75-100 billion of electronics manufacturing is expected from Uttar Pradesh alone, according to the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA). SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/wedding-bells-ring-in-16-rise-in-february-auto-sales-2-wheeler-sales-yet-to-hit-pre-pandemic-levels-fada/articleshow/98443213.cms">Wedding bells ring in 16% rise in February auto sales, 2 wheeler sales yet to hit pre-pandemic levels: FADA</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/oneplus-confirms-launch-of-its-first-foldable-phone-in-2023-flip-phone-also-expected/articleshow/98308482.cms">OnePlus confirms launch of its first foldable phone in 2023, flip phone also expected</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/gadgets/news/noise-and-fire-boltt-entered-in-top-five-in-global-smartwatch-shipments/articleshow/98171390.cms">These two Indian brands have together sold more smartwatches than Samsung in 2022</a>

No 'security testing' or 'crackdown' plans for smartphone makers: Govt

As the collapse of <keyword id="630197" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="silicon-valley-bank" source="Orion">Silicon Valley Bank</keyword> (<keyword id="675965" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="svb" source="Orion">SVB</keyword>) in the US left the Indian startup ecosystem worried, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, <keyword id="205969" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="rajeev-chandrasekhar" source="Orion">Rajeev Chandrasekhar</keyword>, on Sunday said he will hold a meeting with the startup Founders and CEOs next week to see how the government can help them during the crisis. The bank's collapse is going to impact several startups in India which have exposure to its investments and have parked their funds in the bank. "The @SVB_Financial closure is certainly disrupting startups across the world. Startups are an important part of #NewIndia Economy," Chandrasekhar said in a tweet. The minister said he will meet with the Indian startups next week "to understand the impact on them and how the Narendra Modi government can help them "during this crisis." According to recent data by global software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based market intelligence platform Tracxn, SVB had exposure in at least 21 startups in India although it did not reveal the size of the investment in these startups. Top venture capitalist (VC) firms have also issued a joint statement on the collapse of SVB, one of the largest US banks serving the global startup community, saying they are "deeply disappointing and concerning". According to reports, SVB was a bank to more than 2,500 venture capital firms, including Lightspeed, <keyword id="6581358" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bain-capital" source="Orion">Bain Capital</keyword> and Insight Partners. On Friday, the <keyword id="905063" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="us-federal-deposit-insurance-corporation" source="Orion">US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation</keyword> (FDIC) took control of the SVB's $175 billion in customer deposits. US-based technology startup accelerator Y Combinator, which has invested in thousands of startups, including at least 200 from India, has written a petition to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and others, asking them to prevent further shockwaves that could lead to financial crisis and layoffs of more than 100,000 workers. Over 1,200 CEOs and founders representing over 56,000 employees have already signed the petition, written by Garry Tan, CEO and President of Y Combinator, to save startups and hundreds of thousands of jobs. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/us-bank-svb-taken-over-is-largest-failure-since-2008/articleshow/98560513.cms">US bank SVB taken over is largest failure since 2008</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/meta-to-begin-laying-off-another-11k-employees-in-multiple-waves-next-week/articleshow/98558203.cms">Meta to begin laying off another 11K employees in multiple waves next week</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/not-just-game-of-thrones-144-hbo-originals-are-exiting-disney-hotstar/slidelist/98541137.cms">HBO Originals White Lotus, Big Little Lies &amp; more that’ll vanish from Disney+ Hotstar</a>

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Elon Musk Vs Rajeev Chandrasekhar Vs Rahul Gandhi: The great EVM debate

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Our learnings can help India's mission to create responsible AI: SAP's global AI head

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India, EU and 27 nations sign world's 1st pact to mitigate AI threats

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Micron begins construction on $2.7 bn India semiconductor plant in 'epic' beginning

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Regulate bad AI use cases, not whole tech: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna

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IT ministry to send notice to WhatsApp on international spam calls issue: Chandrasekhar

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Will regulate AI and ensure it doesn't harm digital citizens: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

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We're building next-gen AI to become a global powerhouse: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

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Data protection bill to drive deep behavioural changes for platforms exploiting data: Chandrasekhar

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WhatsApp is cracking down on international scam calls after India’s IT ministry takes notice

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India surpasses ₹85,000 cr worth mobile phone exports in FY23

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No 'security testing' or 'crackdown' plans for smartphone makers: Govt

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SVB collapse: Minister Chandrasekhar to meet Indian startups to see how govt can help them

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