External Affairs Minister (EAM) emphasizes India's unique position on the world stage, highlighting its responsibility as a leader and inspiration for the Global South nations. Discover how India plans to contribute to regional and global development, promote cooperation, and set an example for emerging nations. This is a crucial message about India's role in shaping a more balanced and equitable international order.
00:00Dr. Ranjana Kamariji, friends, it's a great pleasure to join you all this morning as we
00:09commence the Trust and Safety Festival, TASI Festival. As a pre-summit event for the February
00:182026 AI Impact Summit, it kicks off a set of conversations that are of great interest
00:28both in India and to the world. I commend the Center for Social Research India and you Dr.
00:38Ranjana Kamariji personally for taking this initiative. Friends, in human history the advancement
00:49of progress has been determined by the march of technology. Yet that has not always been
00:58a linear path. The promise and the perils have always been two sides of the same coin.
01:07Choices made in the deployment and application decided the difference between empowerment and exploitation,
01:17between democratization and domination, and between partnership and polarization. Today we are at the cusp of an immense change and decisions made by us individually and collectively will help decide the fate of the foreseeable future.
01:44Now, if any of you think that this is an exaggeration, consider what is likely to happen in just the next few years.
01:57AI will transform our economies, it will change our work habits, it will create radically new health solutions, it will enhance educational access, it will improve efficiencies, it could even lead to a new lifestyle.
02:18The difference with the past is that this particular transformation that is going to come upon us. This will be all pervasive and not just sectoral. It will impact every citizen in every corner of the world.
02:39New efficiencies and new possibilities will certainly emerge, but so too will new players and new power centers.
02:52For this very reason, we need to adopt a balanced approach to the governance of AI and to ensure that there are adequate guardrails in place to protect digital nagarics.
03:09As Prime Minister Narendra Modi has noted, technology is a force for good, but only if humanity guides it.
03:21Friends, trust and safety are essential for the implementation of responsible AI.
03:29For a society like India, this means development of indigenous tools and frameworks, self-assessment protocols for innovators and establishing relevant guidelines.
03:44Only then can we be assured that the development, deployment, use and governance of AI is safe and accessible.
03:55India bears special responsibility because many other nations, especially those of the global south, they look to us for inspiration.
04:08And certainly in the case of the digital public infrastructure, today what we have achieved in the last decade,
04:16if you see the scale of our delivery, the improvement in governance, the efficiencies with which we serve the public.
04:27I think it is already resonating across the world. As a foreign minister, when I go abroad, this is often the topic of conversation.
04:35And I can see very much this being extrapolated into the world of AI as well.
04:40Now, different societies have put different levels of emphasis on the benefits and on the risks of AI.
04:53Understandably, some of the narrative is influenced by those who have skin in the game.
04:58But at the end of the day, it is imperative that we take a sober and we take a balanced view.
05:08After all, concerns about bias, ethics, privacy and vulnerability are well founded, deriving from pre-existing experiences.
05:19We also need to take particular precaution against the danger of losing trust in institutions and practices that underpin our daily life.
05:32Already, we see an inclination to question the empire or even the playing field when the results don't go in our favor.
05:40Maintaining, I would argue, even strengthening in the era of AI. Strengthening trust is therefore of utmost importance.
05:53Friends, encouraging a global discourse on AI is obviously essential.
05:59Indeed, every time a game-changing technology has appeared on the horizon, it has triggered off similar endeavors.
06:07But history is also a witness to the reality that those exercises have not been easy.
06:15There is the obvious temptation to put narrow self-interest above collective good.
06:22And that is why we need to rise to this particular challenge because what is at stake cannot be overstated.
06:30It is not just the ambitions of politics but the personal interest of every citizen on this planet.
06:40Now, we in India, we have consistently advocated for global AI governance and the shaping of an international agenda.
06:51We have demonstrated this during our G20 presidency and strongly urged its usage for advancing sustainable development goals while safeguarding trust, safety, fairness and accountability.
07:08As a founding member of the global partnership on AI, we promoted the New Delhi declarations which envisaged responsible and inclusive AI.
07:20We participated in the AI summit in Bletchley Park and Seoul and co-chaired the Paris AI Action Summit last year.
07:29The AI Impact Summit in 2026 with the focus obviously on impact will take this forward.
07:41So let me conclude by saying this.
07:43This is an endeavour whose success depends on our ability to ensure multi-stakeholdership.
07:54And that is why the TASI Festival today is important because it sends out a strong, inclusive and pro-people message on this critical issue.
08:08I thank the organisers once again for inviting me and wish your deliberations all success.
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