According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Union Minister of State for Electronics & Technology, the concern regarding AI eliminating or substituting jobs is not an immediate threat since the current state of AI is primarily focused on specific tasks and lacks the necessary sophistication.
One question that often arises when Artificial Intelligence is spoken about is that will this technology gobble up jobs as it grows smarter. It may happen some five-ten years from now, but not now as, at the moment, Artificial Intelligence is focussed on tasks and creating more efficiency, Union Minister of State for Electronics & Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said.
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The Union Minister said, "There is a narrative and some melodrama around AI, and then there is a reality. It is possible over the next five-ten years AI becomes intelligent enough to be able to replace jobs. It can happen. Today, the application of AI is focused on tasks; it creates more efficiency. Of course, there is a possibility that very very low levels of intelligence and repetitive tasking, it may replace jobs. But I can assure you that while AI is disruptive, we do not see in the next few years, the so-called threat of it replacing jobs or removing jobs. That's because the current state of development of AI is that it is very task-oriented, not the reasoning and logic that jobs require. AI is not sophisticated enough at this stage."
When asked about the government's approach towards Artificial Intelligence, the minister said that it will be regulated as Web3 or any other emerging technologies to ensure that they do not harm digital 'nagriks' (citizens)
"Like everything else, there will be a lot of debate and discussion. The visit of Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) -- one of the key international figures in AI -- is a sign that he looks at India, wants to do partnerships with the country and sees India as a very very promising space for AI... That itself is a good thing. However, our approach towards AI regulation or any regulations is that we will regulate it through the prism of user harm. We are committed to protecting digital 'nagriks'. We will not allow platforms that harm digital 'nagriks', and if they have to operate they will need to mitigate user harm," he said.
Chandrasekhar’s comments come at a time when Altman called for regulation of major companies operating in the Artificial Intelligence space, including his own company, but sought that smaller firms and start-ups be left out so that innovation is not stifled.
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