The Artificial Intelligence Task Force from the Ministry of Defence submitted their final report to Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on using AI to increase Indian military’s superiority.

The AI Task Force, led by Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, said in the report:

“AI has the potential to transform national security. It is also seen that AI is essentially a dual-use technology. While it can fuel technology-driven economic growth, it also has the potential to provide military superiority. India has strong IT industry and huge talent pool of engineers which are advantages which need to be leveraged. Ministry of Defence has already initiated the process of preparing Indian defence forces in their use of AI and how these capabilities can be increasingly developed within the country.”

A statement published by the Press Information Bureau quoted the report saying that the Task Force in its report has studied the level of development in the artificial intelligence and machine learning sectors in India in general and specific in the context of defence needs.

The task force, chaired by Shri N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of @TataCompanies , consists of representatives from @adgpi , @indiannavy , @IAF_MCC , @DRDO_India , MoD officials and leading AI experts from the private sector. (2/2)@nsitharaman pic.twitter.com/x2ImnJAX9o

— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) June 30, 2018

The statement added that the report has made suggestions regarding:

• Making India a significant power of AI in defence, specifically in the area of aviation, naval, land systems, cyber, nuclear, and biological warfare
• Made recommendations for policy and institutional interventions which are required to regulate and encourage robust AI-based technologies for defence sector in the country
• Considering that most AI work is happening in private sector, made recommendations to work with start-ups/commercial industry in the field of use of AI for defence purposes

The task force, which was set up in February 2018, studied the whole gamut of issues surrounding strategic implications of AI in national security perspective as well as from the global context. The members of the task force come from varied backgrounds such as government, services, academia, industry professionals and startups.

As part of its deliberations, the Task Force had intensive deliberations with all stakeholder representatives, including officers from Army, Navy, Airforce, Coast Guard, representatives of all Defence PSUs — BEL, HAL, BEML, BDL, MIDHANI, MDL, GRSE, GSL and HSL and OFB. Senior representatives from these organisations participated in the day-long workshop to deliberate in-depth the various use-cases which are relevant from their respective needs. These discussions had led the Task Force to understand the potential military and civilian applications in AI domain.