PMs and Presidents around the world are supporting the use of artificial intelligence and here are the most popular ones among them.
The importance of artificial intelligence is known around the world and every nation is on its way to win the AI race as they realize that acquiring excellence in AI technology would make them the biggest superpower. Tesla king, Elon Musk has recently tweeted that “Competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3”. Recently India along with Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and others have come together to establish the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) for responsible evolution and use of AI. The PMs and presidents of the nations are supporting artificial intelligence in their speeches as well as their establishment of various policies regarding AI and it is demonstrated in the following.
India
In 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a virtual summit on artificial intelligence called ‘RAISE 2020’. It was jointly organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the NITI Aayog. This is a first-of-its-kind summit that focused on India’s vision and the potential roadmap of using AI for what is expected to lead to social change, inclusion, and empowerment. In this summit, PM Modi said that while he wants India to become a global hub for AI. It is also a collective responsibility of the nation to protect the world from the misuse of AI by non-state actors such as cybercriminals, terrorists, among others. He also stated that artificial intelligence (AI) can play a crucial role in developing solutions in agriculture, creating next-generation urban infrastructure, as well as for making disaster management systems in the country stronger.
China
President of China, Xi Jinping stated in 2017 that ‘under a situation of increasingly fierce international military competition, only the innovators win’. This sentiment is shared by Lieutenant General Liu Guozhi, deputy of the 19th National Congress and director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Central Military Commission, who stated in an interview that AI presented a rare opportunity for taking shortcuts to achieve innovation and surpass rivals. According to a July 2017 article in The New York Times, a timeline in the new policy explains how the government expects its companies and research facilities to be at the same level as leading countries like the United States by 2020. Five years later, it calls for breakthroughs in select disciplines within A.I. that will become a key impetus for economic transformation. In the final stage, by 2030, China aims to become the world’s premier artificial intelligence innovation center, which in turn will foster a new national leadership and establish the key fundamentals for great economic power.
Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated “Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia but for all humankind”, as per a report from RT. He further explained that AI comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world. He also said, “It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats.” Although it’s thought that artificial intelligence will help boost countries’ economies in several areas, from heavy industry to medical research, AI technology will also be useful in warfare. Artificial intelligence can be used to develop cyber weapons, and control autonomous tools like drone swarms, fleets of low-cost quadcopters with a shared brain that can be used for surveillance as well as attacking opponents.
France
French President Emmanuel Macron has announced a €1.5 billion plan to turn his country into a world leader for AI research and innovation. It calls for a hefty investment, a handful of specialized institutes, a focus on ethics and open data, and a call to recruit foreign researchers and French scientists working abroad to the country. Macron presented his plans in a lengthy speech peppered with erudite references and touches of humor at the end of the “AI for Humanity” conference in Paris. He believes that turning the country into an AI leader would allow France to use AI for the public good and ensure that a “Promethean” promise doesn’t become a “dystopia”.
USA
US President Joe Biden is planning to invest billions in technology research and development, but his approach to a national AI strategy still lacks a cohesive vision. His $1.5 trillion discretionary budget and $2 trillion infrastructure allot billions to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S. and fund research and development in emerging technologies, which broadly include AI.
Before that, under former president Donald Trump, AI became one of the leaders in AI technology all over the world. Trump stated, “Continued American leadership in AI is of paramount importance to maintain the economic and national security of the United States and to shaping the global evolution of AI in a manner consistent with our Nation’s values, policies, and priorities.” He launched the American Artificial Intelligence Initiative, the Nation’s strategy for promoting American leadership in AI, by signing Executive Order 13859 in February 2019. Reportedly, the American AI Initiative focuses the resources of the Federal Government to support AI innovation that will increase prosperity, enhance national security, and improve the quality of life for the American people.
