NEW DELHI: Artificial intelligence (AI) is not an end in itself, its value lies in how it can be applied to solve real-world problems, including improving system efficiency, and helping societies anticipate and respond to climate risks, Union Environment Minister Bhupinder Yadav said.
He was speaking at the launch of the book Smarter Than the Storm: Championing the AI-Climate Nexus for a Truly Sustainable Future, by Amitabh Kant and Siddharth Sinha.
“The world of AI is already a storm moving in our direction. The only way we can not only survive, but also thrive amidst this storm, is to make human experience its centre. The human race must commit to AI not for AI’s sake, but for the sake of humans and the planet we live in,” Yadav said at the event in Delhi on Tuesday.
He added that India is moving in the right direction in dealing with the contradictions inherent in artificial intelligence.
Kant, the former G20 advisor, said this is a time of great turmoil. He said: “We are witnessing the end of globalization. The post-World War II era has come to an end… Global value chains have come to an end. They are broken. But we live in an era that will see the largest rise in productivity ever due to machine learning of data and artificial intelligence. This technology will be a general-purpose technology that will transform every sector of the economy.”
Kant added that the AI race will be won by those who use AI to transform learning outcomes, health outcomes, and nutrition standards, but also by those who deal with the energy-intensive nature of AI. He added: “Today, artificial intelligence consumes more energy than Japan. The artificial intelligence race will be won by those who improve computing power by using more advanced software, but less computing power.”
“This book is about people, not just about AI and climate, but also about people,” said Sinha, the book’s co-author, who specializes in the interface between AI and climate. Sinha, who previously worked at the G20 Secretariat, added: “As we all know, AI can contribute…from predicting floods to predicting forest fires to enabling a small villager in India to generate power with some of India’s largest companies and even today being able to predict when the next disease or outbreak will emerge. AI has completely revolutionized, and has completely transformed the world as it is today.”
