AI Deployment Must Be Guided By Ethical Considerations: Jyotiraditya Scindia

Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has said that deployment of artificial intelligence must be guided by ethical considerations and robust regulatory framework.

The minister was addressing the inaugural of the fifth edition of the Global Standards Symposium (GSS).

“AI is reshaping the contours of how we store and process information. It is giving companies and individuals unfathomable agility, and unfathomable scalability. But its deployment must be guided by ethical considerations and a robust regulatory framework,” said Scindia.

He said that the governance of AI and IoT (Internet of Things) should not be an ‘afterthought’, adding that to ensure positive impact of advanced technologies, privacy concern and bias must be addressed.

Additionally, the minister said that AI is changing the way data and information is stored and processed. Observing AI’s contribution to companies, he said that it is helping them by unlocking unparalleled agility, precision and scalability.

The Indian government is keeping a close eye on measures to bring AI under regulations. However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in May said that the Centre is planning to regulate AI in a way that it does not deter innovation in the space. 

Counting it as an advantage to introduce AI regulations after many companies have already done so, the ministry said that India can study and learn from the mistakes made by other countries. 

In August, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada informed the Parliament that the Centre set up an advisory group to formulate a framework to regulate AI in the country.

The advisory group is following the terms of reference that include creating contextualised ethical guidelines which are adaptable in India and promote development of trustworthy, fair, and inclusive AI, he stated. 

The government is speeding up actions on the AI front as many new AI-driven startups are spawning in the Indian ecosystem. 

India is home to more than 100 GenAI startups and these startups have raised more than $600 Mn since 2019.                                         

According to Inc42, India’s GenAI market is expected to see a major boom in the coming years and is projected to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030. 

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