From October 4, the new UK Visa Fee structure will come into effect for foreigners, including Indians.
A visa hike announced by the British government will be effective from today. With this, a visit visa to the United Kingdom for under six months will cost GBP (Great Britain Pound) 15 (around ₹ 1,500) more and a student visa will be GBP 127 (approximately ₹ 12,750) more expensive for travellers from around the world. The UK Home Office said that changes mean that the cost for a visit visa for less than six months will rise to GBP 115 (nearly ₹ 11,500) and the fee for applying for a student visa from outside the UK will rise to GBP 490, which is approximately ₹ 50,000.
According to the official site, the hike in visa fees applies to most of the categories, including fees for up to 6 months, 2, 5 and 10-year visit visas; the majority of fees for entry clearance and certain applications for leave to remain in the UK, including those for work and study; fees for indefinite leave to enter and indefinite leave to remain; health and care visa; fees in relation to certificates of sponsorship and confirmation of acceptance for studies; and applications to register and naturalise as a British Citizen.
“It is right and fair to increase visa application fees so we can fund vital public services and allow wider funding to contribute to public sector pay,” a Home Office spokesperson said.
UK visa application fees
From October 4, the new fee structure for UK visas will come into effect for foreigners, including Indians. The cost of UK visas will go up for students, skilled workers and immigrants. As per the official site, the cost of family, settlement and citizenship visas will increase by 20%, while the cost of work and visit visas will increase by 15%. The immigration health surcharge (IHS) will also rise to GBP 1,035 a year.
The visa charge for students, including child students and dependents, will rise to GBP 490. However, the UK government said that there will be no rise in visa fees for short-term courses where students study English for more than 6 months but no more than 11 months.
Image Credits: Ole_CNX (opens in a new window)/ Getty Images
As innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) outpaces news cycles and grabs public attention, a framework for its responsible and ethical development and use has become increasingly critical to ensuring that this unprecedented technology wave reaches its full potential as a positive contribution to economic and societal progress.
The European Union has already been working to enact laws around responsible AI; I shared my thoughts on those initiatives nearly two years ago. Then, the AI Act, as it is known, was “an objective and measured approach to innovation and societal considerations.” Today, leaders of technology businesses and the United States government are coming together to map out a unified vision for responsible AI.
The power of generative AI
OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT captured the imagination of technology innovators, business leaders and the public last year, and consumer interest and understanding of the capabilities of generative AI exploded. However, with artificial intelligence becoming mainstream, including as a political issue, and humans’ propensity to experiment and test systems, the ability for misinformation, impact on privacy and the risk to cybersecurity and fraudulent behavior run the risk of quickly becoming an afterthought.
In an early effort to address these potential challenges and ensure responsible AI innovation that protects Americans’ rights and safety, the White House has announced new actions to promote responsible AI.
In a fact sheet released by the White House last week, the Biden-Harris administration outlined three actions to “promote responsible American innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) and protect people’s rights and safety.” These include:
New investments to power responsible American AI R&D.
Public assessments of existing generative AI systems.
Policies to ensure the U.S. Government is leading by example in mitigating AI risks and harnessing AI opportunities. New investments
Regarding new investments, The National Science Foundation’s $140 million in funding to launch seven new National AI Research Institutes pales in comparison to what has been raised by private companies.
While directionally correct, the U.S. Government’s investment in AI broadly is microscopic compared to other countries’ government investments, namely China, which started investments in 2017. An immediate opportunity exists to amplify the impact of investment through academic partnerships for workforce development and research. The government should fund AI centers alongside academic and corporate institutions already at the forefront of AI research and development, driving innovation and creating new opportunities for businesses with the power of AI.
The collaborations between AI centers and top academic institutions, such as MIT’s Schwarzman College and Northeastern’s Institute for Experiential AI, help to bridge the gap between theory and practical application by bringing together experts from academic, industry and government to collaborate on cutting-edge research and development projects that have real-world applications. By partnering with major enterprises, these centers can help companies better integrate AI into their operations, improving efficiency, cost savings and better consumer outcomes.
Additionally, these centers help to educate the next generation of AI experts by providing students with access to state-of-the-art technology, hands-on experience with real-world projects and mentorship from industry leaders. By taking a proactive and collaborative approach to AI, the U.S. government can help shape a future in which AI enhances, rather than replaces, human work. As a result, all members of society can benefit from the opportunities created by this powerful technology.
Public assessments
Model assessment is critical to ensuring that AI models are accurate, reliable and bias-free, essential for successful deployment in real-world applications. For example, imagine an urban planning use case in which generative AI is trained on redlined cities with historically underrepresented poor populations. Unfortunately, it is just going to lead to more of the same. The same goes for bias in lending, as more financial institutions are using AI algorithms to make lending decisions.
If these algorithms are trained on data discriminatory against certain demographic groups, they may unfairly deny loans to those groups, leading to economic and social disparities. Although these are just a few examples of bias in AI, this must stay top of mind regardless of how quickly new AI technologies and techniques are being developed and deployed.
To combat bias in AI, the administration has announced a new opportunity for model assessment at the DEFCON 31 AI Village, a forum for researchers, practitioners and enthusiasts to come together and explore the latest advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The model assessment is a collaborative initiative with some of the key players in the space, including Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI and Stability AI, leveraging a platform offered by Scale AI.
In addition, it will measure how the models align with the principles and practices outlined in the Biden-Harris administration’s Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) AI Risk Management Framework. This is a positive development whereby the administration is directly engaging with enterprises and capitalizing on the expertise of technical leaders in the space, which have become corporate AI labs.
At a meeting where a draft policy was discussed, the chief minister said the life of the young generation is limited to mobile phones, which has led them towards drug abuse, according to a statement issued here.
Sukhvinder Singh
The Himachal Pradesh government will formulate a drug de-addiction and rehabilitation policy for the youth addicted to drugs, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has said.
At a meeting where a draft policy was discussed, the chief minister said the life of the young generation is limited to mobile phones, which has led them towards drug abuse, according to a statement issued here.
He said the state government is taking strict action to prevent the youth from falling prey to drug abuse and a state-of-the-art drug de-addiction-cum-rehabilitation centre will be established in the state with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) to achieve this goal. Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/politics/himachal-govt-to-prepare-drug-de-addiction-rehabilitation-policy-cm-sukhvinder-singh-10583121.html
