US and India to Promote Reciprocal Investments in AI Technology

The United States and India plan to build new collaboration around artificial intelligence (AI) via investments and protections involving the technology.

These efforts were among several commitments to strengthen a strategic technology partnership between the countries following a meeting in New Delhi, the White House said in a Monday (Jan. 6) fact sheet.

At the Monday event, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to the fact sheet.

Regarding AI, the officials said the countries will develop a government-to-government framework for promoting reciprocal investments in AI technology and aligning protections around the diffusion of that technology, the fact sheet said.

In addition, the U.S. and India will strengthen their cooperation around the national security applications of AI and the “safe, secure and trustworthy” development of the technology, per the fact sheet.

Sullivan and Doval have regularly engaged and have promoted concrete initiatives around AI and other technologies since the May 2022 launch of the India-U.S. Initiative on Critical and Emergency Technologies (iCET), according to a readout of the meeting issued Monday by the White House.

Together with AI, the two countries announced new collaboration in the fields of space technology, defense innovation, industrial cooperation, clean energy, critical minerals and semiconductors, per the fact sheet.

Following the meeting, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a press release saying that Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to greater cooperation between the two countries.

The release also noted significant advancement in the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership over the past four years in several areas, including AI.

It was reported in June that Amazon and Microsoft are among the Big Tech companies investing billions in India’s artificial intelligence efforts.

Microsoft has pledged around $3.7 billion to the southern Indian state of Telangana, where it will build data centers, while Amazon plans to invest around $12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure in India by the end of the decade.

In March, it was reported that India’s IT ministry said AI tools that are “unreliable” or untested must get the government’s go-ahead before release.