UK, India Must Cooperate To Build Trusted Digital Systems: Mellor

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) Deputy British High Commissioner to India Ben Mellor on Monday said artificial intelligence can play a key role in tackling fraud and cyber threats, while stressing the need for greater cooperation between India and the UK to build trusted digital systems.

Addressing CO 2026 in New Delhi, "We are living through an extraordinary period of technological change. Every major wave of economic and social transformation has been driven by a transformational technology. And for us, it is Artificial Intelligence that is forming that foundation,” he said.“AI is reshaping industries, business models, and next-gen connectivity. It's transforming the way communication networks are designed and how end users engage with it,” he added.

AI's Role in Combating Fraud

Mellor said the growing use of technology by criminals had made security and resilience increasingly important, with synthetic content, automated outreach and convincing impersonations making scams more scalable.

“Luckily, AI is part of the problem, but it can also be part of the solution,” he said, adding that AI can help governments and institutions identify hidden patterns, improve anomaly detection, recognise coordinated behaviour and strengthen identity protection.

“Used well, AI can help move the system from reacting to individual incidents towards recognising those patterns of harm earlier,” Mellor said.

India-UK Collaboration is Key

Highlighting the importance of India-UK cooperation, he said combating fraud and scams requires collaboration between governments, regulators, law enforcement agencies, industry and other stakeholders.

“No single stakeholder can shape this alone. We must all work together to share best practice, foster innovation, and address emerging challenges collectively. The answer is not simply more technology; it is better connected institutions using technology in a smarter way,” he said.

Mellor said the UK wanted fraud and scam prevention to be treated as an integral part of the digital ecosystem rather than merely a consumer issue.

“Prevention cannot be bolted on at the end of the digital journey; it has to be considered in the network,” he said.

MoU to Ensure Continuity

He also highlighted the Memorandum of Understanding being signed between the UK and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), saying it would provide continuity to the partnership and create practical channels of cooperation.

“This MoU will give our partnership continuity and ensures that today is not simply an event at which good ideas are exchanged, photographed, and left behind. Today is the day when we start to agree how we are going to move forward together,” Mellor said.

He said the partnership would focus on knowledge exchange, responsible use of AI and data, consumer protection and institutional coordination across telecoms, technology, financial services and public authorities.

Harnessing Complementary Strengths

Mellor said India and the UK brought complementary strengths to the challenge.

“India brings extraordinary digital scale, a sophisticated telecoms market, and a rapidly evolving technology system,” he said, adding that the UK brings experience in financial services, cyber capability, serious organised crime prevention, technology and regulation.

He also pointed to the UK-India Technology Security Initiative (TSI), under which the two countries are developing the Connectivity and Innovation Centre and the UK-India Joint Centre for AI.

“These initiatives will allow the UK and India to shape the future technologies in telecoms and AI that are used not just in our two countries, but across the world--co-developing secure, responsible innovation that can harness the benefits of technology whilst mitigating the risks,” Mellor said.

A Shared Objective for the Future

“I strongly believe that our shared objective should be AI combined with our extensive joint expertise as a benefit to society, solving the real-world problems that we want to try and address. There are risks, but we are together able to solve those risks,” he added.

Mellor further said that the UK is looking forward to working with COAI and with its Indian partners on this agenda.

“The United Kingdom looks forward to working with COAI and with our Indian partners on that agenda. Today is a starting point on the journey,” Mellor said.

According to the official website of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), the non-governmental trade association and advocacy group has emerged as the voice for the Indian telecom industry and interacts directly with ministries, policymakers, regulators, financial institutions and technical bodies. It provides a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas between these bodies and the service providers, who share a common interest in the development of mobile telephony in the country. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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