Defence Minister Rajnath Singh cautions against misuse of AI apps

He cautioned against the misuse of artificial intelligence applications and said the country needs to think about the potential dangers of its unmindful use.

"We cannot stop the development of Artificial Intelligence nor should we make such an effort. But we also need to be careful about it. The bigger the change that any technology brings, the bigger and more serious is its transitional phase," he said.

"Since Artificial Intelligence is going to bring a massive change, it may bring legal, ethical, political and economic upheaval situations. We have to be prepared for that too," he added.

Speaking on the issue, he said that whenever a new technology comes, the society needs some time to change its political, social and ethical standards.

"When new technology comes into the society, it takes time for the society to adapt and in this transitional phase, an uncomfortable situation also arises in the society," he further said.

"Artificial Intelligence should not be misused in any case. There is a need to work on AI with great care so that in the coming time, it does not get out of our own hands somewhere else," Singh said.

"Lest it be dominated by a single country or group of countries like nuclear power... and the rest are deprived of it. It also has to be ensured that it is used democratically," he added.

The Minister, however, said that he was a big optimist and also looks at the future of AI from a positive perspective.

He said that a number of efforts were being made which were helpful in promoting Artificial Intelligence in defence.

Talking about advanced artificial intelligence driven applications in defence, he stated that new autonomous weapons and systems have been developed that were able to hit their target and destroy the enemy's establishments even without human control.

He mentioned AI enabled devices were also capable of handling data in large quantities and helpful in making training of soldiers better.