00:00So for more on the summit, Dr. Conor McCone is lecturer in digital media at the University of Stirling in
00:06Scotland.
00:06He joins me now. Conor, realistically, how important is the global south to all these incredibly wealthy tech billionaires?
00:17It really can't be overstated just how important the global south is to the major players right now.
00:25If you think about what China is currently doing with their data centers, sinking them underwater, using water cooling,
00:32and then compare that to trying to erect data centers in the United States, in France, it's simply not a
00:41viable option.
00:43So major players are exploring new places to build data centers that can work for them and try to power
00:50Western AI solutions
00:53if we can use that kind of term. And it represents a massive possibility for the global south and for
01:00nations like India.
01:02What messages are coming through from the global south to the rest of the tech world about what they want,
01:08what their vision is?
01:11I think it's actually really encouraging when you look at, for instance, the program of events that's happening at the
01:17AI Summit in India right now.
01:19On the one hand, you have this incredibly down-to-earth, realistic vision of what AI can actually do for
01:29things like health care,
01:31things like agriculture, where it's able to offer solutions that help decision-making, that help planning.
01:38And those are the kinds of things that AI really excel at.
01:41However, that more transformative vision, using AI-powered robots to do labor for humans,
01:49more blue-sky-thinking type solutions that we're maybe thirsty to see at these kinds of conferences,
01:55I think those aren't coming along quite as much as some people would like, particularly in the USA.
02:03So it's a mixed vision, but I think looking through the cracks, you can see that there are those really
02:10talented, ingenious,
02:12forward-thinking people in the global south that see this as a solution.
02:16This can help revolutionize farming, medicine, agriculture over there.
02:22Yeah, so many potential benefits in terms of social justice, equality and that sort of thing.
02:27India says it wants to be a bridge between the advanced tech nations and the global south.
02:31What does that mean, in your view?
02:33And do you think India is the right country to do that?
02:37Yeah, I do think India is one of several correct countries that can take advantage of this current opportunity.
02:44Basically, AI needs data, it needs energy, and those things come together in data centers.
02:52And India's relatively low cost of energy production and a lot of viable land to create these data centers on
03:02positions them really well to help provide services for a lot of AI companies around the world.
03:11However, that's not without its concerns, because AI data centers currently are powered mostly through water supply.
03:17And that's not something that India has as much access to as it would really need to be.
03:23So I think they're in a good position and could serve as a great go-between for the big AI
03:29companies and the global south.
03:31But it's something that I think that they need to not put too many eggs in that one basket, knowing
03:37that this is about an economic decision.
03:41And while it's going to be a political decision as well, it's going to be a highly competitive field.
03:46Thank you so much for chatting to us.
03:48Dr. Conor McCohen, lecture in digital media at the University of Stirling in Scotland.
03:52Dr. Conor McCohen, lecture in digital media at the University of Stirling in London.
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