New Delhi, Mar 20 (IANS): The Indian government on Friday announced to postpone the nation's first summit on Artificial Intelligence (AI) that was scheduled to be held in the Capital in October amid the growing new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Titled 'RAISE 2020 (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020),' the summit on October 5-6 was announced as a global meeting of minds to exchange ideas and charter a course to use AI for social transformation, inclusion and empowerment in key areas like healthcare, agriculture, education and smart mobility, among other sectors.

"The registrations are open for all participants and the process will remain the same as before. All AI startups are welcome to participate through the same procedure for the Startup Pitchfest," said Abhishek Singh, President and CEO, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

"The step to postpone the summit is a public health measure for containment and mitigation of the current COVID-19 outbreak," he added.

The 'Startup Pitchfest' is a platform for startups to showcase their ideas for use of AI in accelerating social transformation, inclusion and empowerment.

The summit aims to create a data-rich environment as India has the potential to be the world's leading AI laboratory that can eventually transform lives globally.