Science of the Global South: BRICS Academies Meet on AI at IIT Hyderabad

Article summary

The second meeting of the BRICS Science Academies Forum was held at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad, focusing on artificial intelligence for sustainable development and cooperation among the countries of the Global South. BRICS — originally Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and expanded in recent years to include additional members — is a grouping of major emerging economies that positions itself as a counterweight to Western-dominated institutions and a voice for the developing world. Bringing together the national science academies of member states, the forum is an instrument of science diplomacy: using scientific cooperation to build relationships, pool research capacity and shape norms. Its concentration on AI for sustainable development signals where emerging economies wish to collaborate and to have a say in a technology whose rules are being written largely in the advanced economies. Hosting it in India, at a leading technical institute, projects India's scientific standing within the grouping and its ambition to help lead a Global South scientific agenda.