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New Delhi, August 23, 2024: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today assured the creative professionals, who viewed Artificial Intelligence (AI) with apprehension, fearing it to be an existential threat, by suggesting that AI also represents a tremendous opportunity.
“AI is not a threat,” Puri asserted. “Instead, it offers a chance to lower costs, expand revenue streams, reach a broader audience, and access previously unreachable markets,” he said.
Talking about the use of AI, the central Minister said it is increasingly being utilised in newsrooms, with 41% of news teams employing it to create illustrative art, 39% for social media content, and 38% for writing and generating articles.
Puri acknowledged the challenges AI presents, particularly concerning misinformation, copyright, intellectual property, privacy, and market monopolisation. He emphasized the need for a robust regulatory framework to address these issues effectively.
“The government is committed to designing and implementing policies that will safeguard intellectual property and ensure competitive markets,” he said in an event.
At the launch of the ‘All India Initiative on Creative Economy (AIICE)’ Puri also congratulated the Indian Chamber of Commerce for conceptualising a forum where India’s creative industries could come together and collaborate on various matters related to the creative economy.
Highlighting his association with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which has played an important role in promoting the creative economy globally, he cited its ‘Creative Economy Outlook 2024’ report to emphasise that the creative economy generates annual revenues of over $2 trillion and accounts for nearly 50 million jobs worldwide.
In India, Puri said, “the creative industry is now a $30 billion industry and is responsible for the employment of nearly 8 per cent of India’s working population.” With creative exports increasing by 20 per cent last year alone, generating over $11 billion, the industry is expected to see remarkable growth in the coming years, he added.
He also acknowledged the role of Bollywood and other local film industries in the creative economy of India, highlighting that Bollywood is one of India’s most well-recognised soft power exports.
Addressing the gathering of eminent personalities from various creative industries, Minister Puri underscored the growth potential of content creation in India. He said “India has become the ‘Content Capital of the World’. In 2023, there were more than 100 million content creators in India.”
“We have the largest social media user base in the world; some of the fastest-growing social media networks find their biggest user base in India,” he further added.
The Minister talked about the vibrancy of urban spaces leading to the flourishing of the creative economy further. Highlighting the potential of content creation and creative economy in Indian urban spaces, he said that the creative industries, which were once based almost exclusively in Tier-1 cities and considered exclusionary for many aspiring creative artists, are now flourishing in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
In his address, Puri emphasised the profound impact of digitalisation and digitisation on the creative economy. He noted that these technological advancements have revolutionised various sectors.
