When UP legislators gathered for an AI workshop: Volley of queries and a mantra — ‘Google cycle hai, toh AI motorcycle'

Indian Express

3 days ago

A special workshop for UP legislators on Artificial Intelligence (AI) on Sunday led to a volley of queries, ranging from concerns to curiosity.
'How would AI help us to get votes?'; 'Would AI help us to know which road construction would fetch us more votes in our constituency?'; 'Would AI tell us which party is getting widespread support in the state?'; 'AI is like a thug. How can we trust the data provided by it?'; and 'How would you ensure that it does not defame us?'
The 90-minute AI awareness workshop was organised by the Secretariat since plans are afoot to introduce AI tools to assist in the smooth functioning of the Assembly, right from attendance to recording statements and accessing archives. The Assembly session begins on Monday.
Harshit Mishra, a Phd from IIT-Bombay and CEO of Clim Agro Analytics, who led the session along with other AI experts, explained the importance of AI and its uses and challenges to the legislators. But as the jam-packed session progressed, the queries posed by the legislators threw it off track.
'Vote maange kaise jayenge? AI se mil sakti hai? Jara technically samjha dijiye, kyunki humara labo labab NASA ka engineer to banna nahi hai. Humko vote hi lena hai (How will one seek votes through AI? Can we meet AI? Please explain the technology to us. Because we are not going to become NASA engineers. We just want to get votes,' an MLA said.
Realising that the discussion was going off track, Speaker Satish Mahana stepped in along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna. To simplify AI, Khanna told legislators: 'Agar Google cycle hai, toh yeh (AI) humein motorcycle mein baitha dega (If Google is a bicycle, then this AI is like riding a motorcycle).'
Explaining to the legislators that AI was merely a tool to assist them and that it would not tell their political future, Khanna said: 'AI gyan hai… jo bhi advancement chahta hai lena chahe to le (AI is knowledge…Those who want to advance can take it).'
Like every other thing, Khanna told the legislators, AI too has its positives and negatives. Some of the legislators surprised experts when they shared that they use a tool such as ChatGPT for framing questions and making pointers for speeches, among other things.
As some of the MLAs saw the AI-linked new initiative as a way to keep a tab on their attendance in the Assembly, Speaker Mahana assured, 'We have placed cameras in different parts of the Assembly. We can get to know which MLA has given a speech, on which topic, on which days in a year, or during their five-year term. It is not just information and attendance collection. As some of the MLAs said that AI would analyse their arrival and departure patterns … It would evolve with time to help them.'