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New Delhi : A multi-stakeholder Task Force constituted in February 2018 under the Chairmanship of N Chandrasekharan, Chairman, Tata Sons, and comprising members from the Government, Services, Academia, Industry Professionals and Start-ups to study the whole gamut of issues surrounding strategic implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in national security perspective in global context submitted its Final Report with recommendations to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to have transformative impact on national security. It is also seen that AI is essentially a dual use technology. While it can fuel technology driven economic growth, it also has potential to provide military superiority. India has strong IT industry and huge talent pool of engineers which are advantages which need to be leveraged. Ministry of Defence has already initiated the process of preparing Indian defence forces in their use of AI and how these capabilities can be increasingly developed within the country.
The Task Force, in its report, has made recommendations for making India a significant power of AI in defence specifically in the area of aviation, naval, land systems, cyber, nuclear, and biological warfare. It has also recommended for policy and institutional interventions required to regulate and encourage a robust AI based technologies for defence sector in the country.
As part of its deliberations, the Task Force had an intensive deliberations with all stakeholder representatives including officers from Army, Navy, Airforce, Coast Guard, representatives of all Defence PSUs. Senior representatives from these organizations participated at a day long workshop to deliberate in-depth the various use-cases which are relevant from their respective needs. These discussions had led the Task Force to understand the potential military and civilian applications in AI domain.
Defence Minister is the main promoter and patron of the AI Task Force of the Ministry of Defence. The Task Force handed over the Final Report to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the Government to accept it and implement its recommendations, according to a PIB release.