Key Takeaways from Narendra Modi and Bill Gates Conversation
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates caught up in an insightful conversation on Friday morning at the former’s residence in New Delhi. Looks like the discussion was much about the economy’s progression toward digitalization, technology, artificial intelligence, climate change, and women’s empowerment. Bill Gates was all praises about India’s technological advancements and its contribution to AI transformation.
PM Modi has always had a vision about the technological infrastructure of India. When Bill Gates asked Modi about the technological innovations that excite him the most, he replied “I decided I will not allow a digital divide in India and hence took the infrastructure to villages across the country.” Speaking about the past in between the Modi Bill Gates conversation, the Indian PM expresses how he didn’t want his country to be digitally divided when the world was going through one. His imagination combined with an equally dedicated manpower helped him achieve the developmental state India stands in today.
Modi further discussed the need for Public Digital Infrastructure and how it has garnered an important position for the country’s development. He says that women of today have become more open to embracing new technologies in India. Due to his recent initiative “Namo Drone Didi,” many underprivileged women have come into the mainstream and empowered numerous of them. This scheme is a call towards generating more employment opportunities for the female race as well as enhancing agricultural productivity with the use of modern technological practices.
The G20 Summit of 2023 received an important position in their conversation. “We had extensive discussions before the G20 Summit and as you’ve likely noted, the summit’s proceedings took various turns. I believe we have now aligned with G20’s core purpose and objectives, bringing them into the mainstream”, the PM stated. The two great minds talked about the beneficial aspects of Artificial Intelligence and how efficiently India leveraged AI during the global summit last year. Sharing an impressive instance from the event, Modi shared how during the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, his Hindi was being instantly translated into Tamil, and that too live with the use of AI.
Applauding India for the efforts it made in bringing together nations during the G20 Summit, Bill Gates said “G20 is way more inclusive and so it is fantastic to see India hosting it- really raised things like digital innovations and how the south-south collaboration can be far more than just the dialogue with the north…Our foundation is so excited about the past results that you have achieved here in India, that we would be a partner in trying to take that into many other countries.” In his praises for India, the former Microsoft CEO also hailed India has a “digital government”, saying that India is actually leading the way rather than just adapting technology.
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Emphasizing the importance of AI, PM Modi said that India in the past lagged during the first and second digital revolutions because it was a colony. Today we are in the midst of a fourth industrial revolution, the digital element is at its core. “India will gain a lot in this”, he expresses his confidence over the benefits that the nation would possibly reap from this revolution. “Sometimes, I jokingly say that in our country, we call our mother ‘Aai’. Now I say that when a child is born, he says ‘Aai’ as well as AI as children have become so advanced”, he said to Bill Gates.