India and France have signed a declaration on artificial intelligence (AI). In a joint statement, both countries said they will work together to ensure that norms and standards governing the use of AI reflect democratic values and harness the technology’s potential to further human development and protect the common good.
The announcement comes as both nations seek to align their efforts in advancing AI while ensuring its safe and ethical deployment — a key focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech at the plenary session of the AI Action Summit in Paris on Tuesday. PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired the summit.
The statement is also in line with Macron’s previous comments that India and France will push for tech sovereignty. “I think with Prime Minister Modi we firmly believe that India and France are two great powers and we have a special relationship in respect to this. We respect and want to work with the United States, and we want to work with China but don’t want to depend on no one,” Macron had said.
India, France, China and 57 other nations on Tuesday signed the Paris AI Action Summit’s declaration on “inclusive and sustainable” AI. The United States and the United Kingdom refused to sign the declaration — the UK said it was putting its national interests first, while the US criticised the European Union for “excessive regulation”.
India and France have said it is now more important than ever to ensure safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems that would accelerate progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Both countries added that AI development needs to be guided by international law — the United Nations Charter, human rights and fundamental freedoms, etc — and urged other countries to collaborate to develop the technology.
Expanding Bilateral Cooperation
The joint statement also outlined key areas for bilateral cooperation between India and France:
- Fostering industrial partnerships for electronic components and computing capacities.
- Deepening research collaborations to develop open and reusable large language models that promote linguistic diversity.
- Supporting academic research on the societal consequences of AI development.
- Encouraging civil society initiatives to facilitate exchanges among entrepreneurs, researchers, and public actors in the AI field.
- Strengthening cooperation on child safety online by aligning ongoing initiatives in both countries.
- Promoting the development of digital public infrastructure for AI, including shared objectives in data protection, open-source tools, and capacity building.
India and France’s joint statement also builds on the 2023 Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in digital technologies. Both countries said they would participate in the development of emerging AI technologies — something that will be a key area of focus in the India-France Year of Innovation in 2026.
Framework for Ethical AI
Both countries are pushing for a framework for ethical development and use of AI. The framework aims to:
- Ensure that AI design and development serve the public interest, respect human rights, and comply with legal frameworks on intellectual property, privacy, and personal data.
- Prevent discrimination, inequality, bias, and misinformation/disinformation through AI and generative AI technologies.
- Promote the development of free and open resources to decentralise AI and avoid concentration of power.
- Encourage economic and market players to ensure safe and trusted AI development, with transparent rules and control procedures for training data and authorised uses.
- Leverage AI for global good, addressing challenges such as global health, sustainable agriculture, education, climate change, disaster management, biodiversity protection, energy, and food security.
- Support generative AI that upholds linguistic and cultural diversity.
- Build an inclusive governance framework to ensure responsible and ethical AI development, building on the outcomes of the AI Action Summit.
The statement signals an intent by both countries to set a global example in fostering international cooperation and responsible AI innovation.