Broadband India Forum Convenes First-Ever Summit on Artificial Intelligence: AI Summit 2023 - AI for Acceleration to a $5 Trillion Economy

New Delhi, July 20, 2023: Broadband India Forum (BIF), in collaboration with Bharat Exhibitions, organized its first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit 2023 at Hotel Shangri-La, New Delhi. The theme of the first edition of the summit was “AI for Acceleration to a $5 Trillion Economy.”
 

The summit was inaugurated by Chief Guest, Dr. R K Upadhyay, CEO, and Chairman Board, C-DOT, in the presence of senior dignitaries from MeitY and the Industry. The Inaugural Session was followed by four sessions covering diverse topics on current trends and key challenges in AI, AI ethics and governance in India, AI-empowered Blockchain applications, and the AI-enabled 5G-6G ecosystem. More than 25 speakers from the Government (TRAI, DoT, MeitY, Ministry of Defence), Industry (TCS, Microsoft, Amazon, Ericsson, Nokia, Airtel, Tejas, Wisig, Awiros, Astrikos, Techbridge, NARNIX Technolabs), Academia (IIM Ahmedabad, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad), and Associations (GAIA, India Blockchain Alliance, etc.) participated in the Summit.
 

The objective of the summit was to explore the role of accelerating the growth of the economy to reach the ambitious $5 trillion mark through AI's role in India's digital transformation and the preparedness of India in embracing emerging technologies like AI. The deliberations were aimed at assessing strategies to enable effective utilization of AI-powered Blockchain technology and the critical role of AI-enabled 5G and 6G in the future. By fostering collaboration among industry, academia, and the government, the summit served as a catalyst to unlock the full potential of AI and drive digital transformation across various other sectors besides telecom.

BIF, a policy think-tank known for facilitating New & Emerging Technologies, firmly believes that AI will be a strong influencer in transforming the future of businesses and society and should be allowed the freedom of innovation for the next few years without stifling its growth with ex-ante regulations. AI has made significant inroads across all sectors, with acronyms such as Ethical AI, Generative AI, Secure AI, Responsible AI, and Trusted AI becoming household names. AI has the potential to generate a multitude of positive outcomes, but like any other emerging and disruptive technology, it possesses a few risks, which need to be effectively managed through the implementation of appropriate risk management strategies and frameworks. In this context, the role of Ethics and Governance in AI becomes crucial in the overall risk management framework for AI. BIF strongly advocates for the responsible and ethical deployment of AI to ensure that it maximizes its positive impact while mitigating potential risks.
 
Aruna Sundararajan, IAS (Retd.), Chairperson, Broadband India Forum, and Former Secretary (Telecom), DoT, Ministry of Communications, and Chairperson, Digital Communications Commission (DCC), in her Introductory Address said, “AI can play a crucial role in advancing healthcare, smart cities, infrastructure, financial inclusivity, transportation, climate, gender equality, and other key priority areas. This Summit aims to look at emerging trends in the development of AI and the opportunities this pivotal technology holds for accelerating economic growth and development. A key theme that the conference also seeks to address would be issues around ethics and governance as the country prepares to harness this technology on a wider scale for enhancing productivity and efficiency.”