The Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) event, which is a multi-stakeholder initiative aiming to bridge the gap between theory and practice on artificial intelligence (AI) by supporting cutting-edge research and applied activities on AI-related priorities, commenced on Tuesday. Paytm’s founder and CEO, Vijay Shekhar Sharma was part of the 1st session of the event on ‘Applications of AI in Priority Sectors’.
He was accompanied by other panelists including Nivruti Rai, MD and CEO at Invest India; Kazim Rizvi, Founder at The Dialogue; Laila Cremona, founder and CEO at Medibay; Narayanan Vaidyanath, head of Policy Development at ACCA; Aakrit Vaish, CEO at Haptik AI; Samir Shah, CEO at Dvara (E-registry); Shailesh Kumar, Professor at Jio Institute; Raghu Dharmaraju, President at ARTPARK; and David Weller, Senior Director at Emerging Technologies, Competitiveness and Sustainable Policy, Google.
Speaking about his understanding of AI, Vijay said that he believes that India should have been paying a lot more attention to AI than it had till today. He further stated that it is an important imperative that we do not become a country that is missing the AI wave at a scale that we are seeing.
“In fact, I see that many countries could look at AI as a productivity enhancer. I look at it as a basic necessity of serving our citizens. I mean, you saw the advantage of mobile phones that brought in the world and the amount of phenomenal financial inclusion,” he said.
Vijay also expects AI to help farmers to give a better yield, and also AI could solve one of the biggest gaps in ecology.
About GPAI
Launched in June 2020 with 15 members, GPAI is the fruition of an idea developed within the G7. Today, GPAI’s 29 members are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
India is a founding member of GPAI, having joined the multi-stakeholder initiative on June 15, 2020. In November 2022, India received more than two-thirds of first preference votes and was elected as the Incoming Council Chair of GPAI. The country is serving as the Incoming Support Chair in 2022-23.
“India is taking over as Lead Chair on 12 December 2023 for 2023-24 and will serve as Outgoing Support Chair in 2024-25. As Lead Chair, India is hosting the annual GPAI Summit a three-day event from 12th to 14th December 2023 to convene all 29 GPAI members to discuss matters related to AI,” A PIB release stated.