Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates during a meeting at his residence.
On his last visit to India in February 2024, Gates said he discussed several local and global issues and was blown away by the country’s strong focus on issues like digital public infrastructure, women-led development and innovation
A candid conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Business Tycoon and philanthropist Bill Gates about the AI revolution, India’s potential as a tech leader and more was live-streamed on Friday.
The teaser of the “interesting conversation”, where Gates told PM Modi that Indians are not only “adapting” to technology, but also leading the way, was released a day later building heavy anticipation.
“One of the themes that India brings to the table is that technology should be for everyone,” the billionaire said.
During a discussion, Prime Minister Modi expressed his ambition to establish digital public infrastructure for rural India.
On Artificial Intelligence (AI), Modi explained to Gates that AI presents considerable challenges globally. He also emphasised the importance of comprehensive training for AI systems and proposed the idea of adding a watermark to AI-generated content.
The prime minister also highlighted his government’s initiatives aimed at empowering women, such as the Namo Drone Didi program, which equips women with drone piloting skills, thereby fostering economic independence and rural development.
“When I used to hear about the digital divide in the world, I used to think that I would not allow anything like that to happen in my country. Digital public infrastructure is a major requirement in itself…Women are more open to adopting new technology in India. I have started the ‘Namo Drone Didi’ scheme. This is going on very successfully,” said Modi.
On his last visit to India in February 2024, Gates said he discussed several local and global issues and was blown away by the country’s strong focus on issues like digital public infrastructure, women-led development and innovation.
The billionaire said he was optimistic that India would lead the way in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for public good.
