Context:
Recently, India participated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+20) Forum held at ITU Geneva from May 27th to 31st, 2024.
More on the news
- Additional Secretary (Telecom) led a delegation at International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Geneva, also participated in the ‘AI for Good’ Global Summit held alongside the WSIS+20 Forum.
- The event was co-organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and co-hosted by ITU and the Swiss Confederation, with the support of remote participation.
- India is leading in drafting global standards for responsible and trustworthy AI, and the Telecommunication Engineering Centre, TEC, (Standard’s body of DoT, India) has released a Standard for assessing and rating fairness in AI Systems.
- TEC is now framing another Standard for assessing and rating the robustness of AI systems.
- India to host WTSA 2024 in New Delhi from 15-24 October 2024 during the AI for Good Global Summit at ITU Geneva and extended a warm invitation to foreign delegates from across the globe to attend the upcoming WTSA in New Delhi.
WSIS + 20 Forum High-Level Event 2024
- It will mark a significant milestone of twenty years of progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, which took place in two phases — Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005.
- It will serve as a platform for multistakeholder discussions with the objective to take stock of the achievements and key trends, challenges and opportunities since the Geneva Plan of Action in 2003.
- WSIS is a two-phase United Nations (UN) summit, first introduced by Tunisia in 1998. It aims to create an evolving multi-stakeholder platform to address issues raised by information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The AI for Good Global Summit
- It is the leading action-oriented United Nations platform promoting AI to advance health, climate, gender, inclusive prosperity, sustainable infrastructure, and other global development priorities.
Significance of the event
- AI holds immense potential to revolutionize digital governance by enhancing efficiency, improving service delivery, and supporting informed decision-making, however, it is essential to address ethical, privacy, and inclusivity challenges to fully realize the benefits of AI in governance.
- The Indian delegation urged the International Forum to prioritize making these technologies accessible and affordable for developing nations, as this is essential to closing the sustainability gap.