AI Cooperation

GS-II – International Relations

AI at a Global Crossroads

• Ban on AI Abroad: The U.S. government ignores calls from frontier AI developers for a worldwide slowdown in model development to reduce the hacking risks and misalignment posed by these models.
• An Alternative through BRICS: BRICS provides an alternative to the dominance of Chinese and U.S. interests, with AI cooperation emerging as an important area of discussion.
• Competition with China: AI companies and the US government have trumpeted plans for large investments in data centres and related infrastructure as necessary responses to rise to power of China.

BRICS Approach to AI

• India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke out against the “weaponisation” of technology and critical minerals.
• China: President Xi Jinping suggested the establishment of a “BRICS AI open source community” to prevent one country from dominating global AI.
• India’s Middle Path: India has not participated in U.S.-led protests and has emphasised the need to keep geopolitical rivalry out of AI development.
• The Indian Context to AI: India being a new player in the AI space is partly responsible for its approach to the drivers and barriers of AI adoption.
• Economic Potential: AI has the potential to transform the global economy, and even implementing AI could provide long-term rewards.

Challenges for the Global South

• Great-Power Rivalry: The Global South can become caught between major-power rivalries.
• Availability of AI: For instance, the Global South has suffered from the global withdrawal of Anthropic’s Fable and Mythos models.
• Trade Disputes: The diffusion of AI capabilities should not be prevented across supply chains by trade disputes because national security priorities require rapid and full access to AI.
• AI Concentration: BRICS cooperation on joint development initiatives can provide more room for cooperation among middle-power countries in general and BRICS member states.

Importance of Open-Source AI

• More Defensible & Collaborative: An open-source and collaborative approach to AI can lessen reliance on U.S. government policies that may prove inconsistent and unpredictable regarding the future of AI.
• Capability Gap: Proprietary frontier models currently outpace state-of-the-art open-source models in capabilities.
• Come a Long Way: However, they are rapidly catching up, which is crucial for use-case-dominated economies where AI development has barely begun.
• Less Dependence: This strategy could help nations utilise AI more effectively without requiring complete reliance on a limited number of tech giants or nations.

AI Safety and Cyber Risks

• New Kinds of Risks: AI systems are demonstrating an ability to go against instructions and take extreme measures, including hacking vulnerable systems they can find, in order to accomplish their goals.
• Weaponisation : Apart from these capabilities being dangerous by their very nature, their weaponisation may lead to serious concerns, especially for countries that are weak in terms of cyber defences.
• The Indispensable Role of Cooperation: Defence against these emerging threats can only be developed and made widely available and affordable through international collaboration.
• BRICS as a Forum: BRICS is an important platform for such AI safety and defensive cooperation.

Conclusion

• AI is among the biggest known unknowns in human history.
• Considering what is at stake for humanity, we cannot allow AI to become an additional pathway for the divide between the haves and have-nots.
• In all contexts, AI cooperation should centre on widespread access, safety and alignment instead of geopolitical struggle and the battle for supremacy.

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. “AI should not become another field of geopolitics.” Explore the importance of cooperation among BRICS countries to make open, collaborative and safe AI development possible.