NEW DELHI: The government would regulate artificial intelligence technology to make sure that it doesn't harm "digital citizens," , said Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday.

"Our strategy for regulating AI is really straightforward. At a press conference to highlight the digital initiatives undertaken so far by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics and Technology said, "We will regulate AI as we regulate Web 3 or any emerging technologies to ensure they do not harm digital citizens." Through this technology, "we will protect digital citizens," he asserted, adding that businesses interested in doing business in India must first take steps to minimise consumer harm.

He also addressed the worries about potential job losses brought on by disruptive technologies, stating that AI in its current form poses no threat to employment. He contends that AI technology as it now is mostly task-oriented and unable to handle circumstances that call for logic and reasoning.

"While AI is disruptive, we do not anticipate the alleged threat of job replacement in the coming years. Because AI is now very task-oriented and not yet capable of reasoning, logic, or other higher-order thinking processes. 

The minister explained that AI is currently not as sophisticated as jobs, which typically require logic and thinking.  In India, where the IT sector is robust and there is a wealth of data, AI-based utilities have enormous promise. Nevertheless, AI is still in its infancy.

Although many nations have been utilising AI technologies to improve service delivery and minimise human participation, concerns about job losses persist as the technology develops.

OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday in the nation's capital. Their conversation covered a range of topics, including the necessity for international regulation of artificial intelligence. After meeting Altman, Prime Minister Modi tweeted that India's IT environment has enormous potential for AI, especially among the young.

In the meantime, Chandrasekhar thanked PM Modi for India's progress on the digital front and the introduction of innovations like the fastest internet services and 5G.

"The country has undergone a transformation in the past nine years, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's inspirational leadership. Under his leadership and vision, the digital economy and the technology sector have changed, he claimed.

He discussed how the nation has changed from "the bad days of United Progressive Alliance (UPA's) led by Congress lost decade when people were fleeing the country, there were scams every day, and nobody was making any investments."

India has advanced significantly since that time, he highlighted, "receiving the highest FDI" and "creating more jobs than ever before." He claimed that the rest of the world is now interested in partnering with India's economy. "The world wants to partner with Indian entrepreneurship and Indian entrepreneurs to build the technologies of the future," the minister stated.

In praise of PM Modi's accomplishments, he said, "I think the people will certainly agree that PM Narendra Modi Ji needs to be thanked for 9 years of tremendously hardworking seva that he has done for our country and our youth."