How Sovereignty is making AI less "dangerous"?

As my hand shivered while adding the next spoon of sugar to the black coffee, I was greeted with a notification.

And yet another AI news, “AI taking over the content writing industry. Should it be stopped?“. The tone in the description makes it obvious that the writer is strictly opposing what is considered the “Innovation of the decade“. Coincidently, the images used to make the article graphically sound, are generated with DALL-E (just another AI image generation tool made by OpenAI).

Well, AI is here, and it is here to stay. For good or for bad, it has its own set of debates and reasons. It is in the headlines almost every day, sometimes coming up with new molecules that can cure cancer and sometimes Mr Modi dancing over a rap song. Maybe it's not entirely the AI; maybe it's the type of data it is trained on. Maybe it has to have the consciousness to understand what is acceptable globally and what is in just some parts of a country.

While nearly every country has joined the AI race, they are primarily focused on the term “Sovereignty".

So what is AI Sovereignty or Sovereign AI? A specific version of AI designed in-country might be accessible to the world outside but generally stands as a country-specific imprint. It is a nation’s capability to produce artificial intelligence using its own infrastructure, data, workforce and business networks.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang emphasizes the need for Sovereign AI Infrastructure for every country. He adds that this would harness the economic & technological potential of a country while safeguarding their allowed nation t unique cultural identity. With India making its digital imprints all over the world with its UPI technology the next ambition is to stand out in the AI race. With digitization at its peak and India popping out a new unicorn every now and then, India aims to strike a balance between leveraging cutting-edge technology and preserving its rich cultural heritage.

Having a tailor-made, bespoke AI for a country, the chances of having a technolical advancement as a backup when a country might not allign with the global trends. Along with initiating verticals for governance, industries and citizens, “soverignity“ can benchmark a country’s position to the state-of-art advancments a country has achieved in terms of hardware and software.

There was a time when cinema halls had the only screen we could sit and watch something that we call today a “video”. Next came the CRTs (Cathode Ray Tubes), which were those big bulky TVs that were our major source of visual entertainment. Today, we have a screen almost on all of our electronic devices. Who knew the watch that used to tell time now would have a screen enabling us to play Mario (when bored writing articles)?

With technology came regulations. Be it the CBFC, monitoring the intensity of sensualism and blood shown in Cinema or the Ministry of Electronics and IT monitoring the language of mobile games. AI has its own downsides, be it a deep fake or a fake voice asking for money, we have some serious problems to monitor.

Artificial intelligence (AI) carries a risk in that it may facilitate the spread of false material online by producing phony yet convincingly authentic photos and videos, as Taylor Swift experienced this month. Due to human mistake and oversight, business and individual data may also be more easily stolen through "believable" emails and phone calls. (A few content creators have filed lawsuits against AI developers, alleging that their words and images are being used by generative AI without proper attribution or payment). Many companies that could integrate AI into their operations have been hesitant to do so because of the risks involved. These companies want regulation surrounding AI to be clear so they won't be held accountable for any abuse.

AI monitoring includes unique metrics and data that are unique to AI operations, going beyond typical application monitoring. Organizations can guarantee optimal performance, resource efficiency, and a flawless user experience by proactively monitoring AI systems.

The “IndiaAI Compute Capacity” is a reality and its happening. The Indian government has planned a whooping ₹10,300 Crore ($1.24 billion) funding package to bolster the nation's AI infrastructure. The main focus of the project is going to be a supercomputer with at least 10,000 GPUs. Other than stating that it anticipates a public-private collaboration being required to develop the machine, the government has not disclosed any other information about the device, which will be a component of the "IndiaAI Compute Capacity".

Before getting into the question of “is it going to be dangerous”, lets answer “ it is dangerous, at all”.

Yes, if we do not regulate it, No, if we are. Just when Electricity was invented, people oppsing the devastating nature of electrons flowing that could potentially cook a human body were equally rebellious for it. They went as far as getting a full-sized elephant and electrocuted it showing how humans can be none the less. But cut to today, the device one must be reading this, is powered by the same flow of electrons.

The gist is, we have contained it. Just like water flowing through rivers, the rising demand of energy, etc. We find ways to work with it. The transition of “working with it” to “working for it” can be scary, but rest assured we have to open our optimistic minds here. Countries are working day and night to bring regulations and soverignity to the AI race, and this is something which is going to enable monitoring.