DeepSeek Concerns

Even as there has been a growing concern around Chinese AI DeepSeek, while India remains steadfast in safeguarding users’ data and privacy, the Economic Survey 2024-25 presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to Parliament on Friday said the country’s demographic advantage and diverse economic landscape help create a unique position that will benefit the country from AI. As the Economic Survey has pointed out, the good news is that this can serve not as a crisis but more as a catalyst for equitable economic transformation, which in turn will help position India to thrive in an increasingly automated global scenario. As reported on the front page of this newspaper on Saturday, achieving benefits from AI calls for significant investments in the education sector, particularly in the area of workforce skilling, supported by enabling, insuring, and stewarding institutions. These mechanisms, as the Economic Survey has underlined, can help workers adapt to the emerging changing demands, at the same time providing essential safety nets. Also worth noting, by fostering collaboration between policymakers, the private sector, and academia, India can align AI-driven innovation with societal goals, the survey highlighted. It has also been pointed out that with AI research and development currently concentrated in the hands of a few and the very large companies that control the resources to erect high entry barriers, AI adoption in place of humans presents the risk of concentrating the benefits of automation. Simultaneously, it is also a reality that technological developments that worsen inequality can erode any possible benefit that the innovation brings, leaving the public sector responsible for addressing the cost of the transition. Given this reality, the situation calls for a more responsible approach to AI adoption, especially in a country like India, which is burdened with rising unemployment, which makes the magnitude of impact something worth paying attention to, the survey has underlined.