Between September 24 and 26, the inaugural cohort of the ORF America and ORF U.S.-India AI Fellowship Program (AIFP) convened in Washington, D.C. This was the final meeting of the AIFP, which brought together 20 fellows (10 from the United States and 10 from India) with diverse backgrounds in industry, government, and academia to study and write about AI, and its implications for the economy, security, and society.
Day 1
To kick-off the meeting, fellows reported on notable AI policy updates from the United States and India over a working breakfast. The cohort then visited the State Department to brief senior officials on their research that spanned a wide range of AI and public policy issues, including AI safety, infrastructure buildout, AI security, large language models, semiconductors and geopolitics, as well as workforce development and bilateral cooperation.
After a discussion on current U.S.-India relations with the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy in Washington, the fellows met with a panel of DC-based technology experts to explore the geopolitics of AI. The day culminated with a public program on “Shaping U.S.-India AI Cooperation”, which highlighted key areas for bilateral cooperation under the new U.S. AI Action Plan and concluded with the launch of the AIFP Edited Volume: “Shaping U.S.-India AI Cooperation: Insights from the Inaugural U.S.-India AI Fellowship Program”, a collection of essays that represents the research and recommendations the AI fellows produced over the course of the one-year fellowship.
Speakers:
Gregory Allen, Senior Advisor, Wadhwani AI Center, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Amanda Craig, Senior Director of Public Policy, Office of Responsible AI, Microsoft
Rajesh Gupta, Professor and Dean of the School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences, University of California San Diego
Sakshi Gupta, Staff, Government Affairs, Qualcomm
Dhruva Jaishankar, Executive Director, ORF America
Namgya Khampa, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India to the United States
Hodan Omaar, Senior Policy Manager, Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
Samir Saran, President, Observer Research Foundation
Mohammed Soliman, Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute
Day 2
In the morning, the cohort visited the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University to engage with their experts on AI governance, data protection and public policy. During a series of roundtable discussions in the afternoon, fellows briefed each other and debated the current state of AI development and deployment in the United States and India.
