Some plurilateral initiatives have also pursued this idea. Notable among these are the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development principles on AI and the G20 AI Principles that debuted in 2019. Most recently, in November 2023, the UK unveiled the Bletchley Declaration, which, among others, brings the US and China together to ensure transparency and accountability in developing AI systems.
AI and Global South
India is also leaving no stone unturned to project its vision of AI governance. Domestically, it is implementing several measures to develop AI systems responsibly. It is also considering appointing a nodal officer to tackle deepfakes. At the diplomatic level, what distinguishes India’s endeavour from other initiatives is the prominence given to the concerns of the Global South, which has largely been a peripheral voice in the AI global governance debate.
India utilised the just concluded Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence Summit to put forth the Global South’s priorities. The summit’s New Delhi Declaration, besides proposing to create a global framework on AI trust and safety and disseminate the benefits of AI for all, also commits to include the Global South’s needs in the development of AI. This emphasis was also visible in the G20 New Delhi Leaders’ Declaration that declared the grouping’s commitment to harnessing AI for the public good by solving challenges responsibly and inclusively, with a human-centric focus, while protecting people’s rights and safety.
This emphasis on the Global South’s concerns is a bid to avoid ‘AI Colonialism’ – a lesson learnt from the Cold War years when the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty shaped the global non-proliferation regime by excluding the Global South and promoting ‘nuclear apartheid’. While geopolitics will certainly shape the scope of global cooperation, India is eager to shape the global conversation on this key frontier technology.
