Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated at the NDTV G20 Conclave on August 26 that shutting down the internet is always a last resort and is not unique to India. He also stressed on the risk of AI in regard to misinformation.
He said that the spread of misinformation is the greatest threat to any country.
After the withdrawal of special status, the Centre had cut off internet access in Jammu and Kashmir. In Manipur too, which has experienced widespread ethnic violence, there is a partial internet shutdown.
At the 'NDTV G20 Conclave', Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "The coming of artificial intelligence can take misinformation to the next level with deep fakes and other methods." He said internet shutdowns are meant to stop the spread of misinformation.
Meanwhile, the Union Minister also discussed how the government was able to "dispel the misconception" that technology is expensive by using the wildly popular United Payments Interface (UPI) as an example.
UPI is now used by millions of Indians for transactions ranging from one rupee to thousands of rupees in value.
"We have turned the narrative that tech is expensive on its head. UPI has plugged leaks in the government process. Earlier, Rs 100 left Delhi and only Rs 15 would reach the people as the process had leaks," Rajeev Chandrasekhar said while speaking to NDTV.
"We plan to connect all public services with digital public Infrastructure (DPI). India's DPI is moving towards AI for governance," he added, referring to AI (artificial intelligence).