Institutionalise human control for AI-enabled systems: Lt Gen Vipul Singhal

New Delhi: India must adopt AI-enabled systems responsibly with institutionalised human control and clearly defined functions, which may be assisted and recommended by AI, Lt Gen Vipul Singhal, DCOAS (IS&T) said on Wednesday.

With India emerging as major military power with rapidly growing AI ecosystem and being a civilisation that has long understood that power must be governed by restraint, the country has both capability and credibility to lead the world in using AI responsibly in conflict, he said while addressing at a session on 'Defence Perspective in AI' here at the AI Impact Summit.

"For India, the question is never as to whether we should adopt AI enabled systems, but how. We are clear that this transition must be undertaken responsibly," he said.

Elaborating on what responsible and effective approach looks like, Lt Gen Singhal said, "First, we must institutionalise human control, not as a slogan, but as law. This requires clearly defining which functions may be assisted by AI, which may be recommended by AI, and which may must always remain human decisions." AI can inform decisions, but only humans can exercise judgment and bear responsibility for them, he asserted.

Second, AI-enabled systems need to be treated as a weapon system and be tested accordingly, he said, adding that the most chaotic data environment is the battlefield, and AI trained on very clear satellite images given to a computer lab will fail when it sees grainy, mud-soap, smoke, deception-like images in a battlefield, and can produce a wrong decision.

"Therefore, there needs to be the same certification, same red teaming and same TILE evaluation of AI-enabled systems," he noted.

Stressing on sovereignty and trust, he said, "How does a commander trust the data that is being fed into the AI-enabled system to give him the decision support. There needs to be more clarity on that." Expressing confidence that AI as the new looming technology on the forefront will also find ways and means to be regulated, he said, adding that the United Nations Convention on certain conventional weapons is already on.

There are many governments, many states that are part of the discussion. Consensus is complex, but it will come, he said.

Stating that India today stands at the cusp of three powerful realities, he said, "We are a major military power. We are a rapidly growing AI country or AI ecosystem, and we are a civilisation that has long understood that power must be governed by restraint." India's ethos of "Shakti must go hand in hand with Dharma or righteousness" gives it "both capability and credibility to lead the world in using AI responsibly in conflict", he said, adding, "great power comes with great responsibility".

Lt Gen Singhal also informed the gathering that the Indian armed forces and the Indian army are cognizant of the transformative power of AI to increase their official efficiency.

"We are making every effort with direction to ensure that AI is incorporated into our decision support systems, into our surveillance recce all the other function we do," he said.

The Indian armed forces are working with industry leaders, startups and academic institutions to harness AI for military applications, "drawing strength from India's vibrant innovation ecosystem and our own growing band of uniform innovators".