There is no denying that AI has emerged as a phenomenal technology of today and the future. It is powering all futuristic projects in almost every imaginable sector or vertical. As a result, there are innovations taking place across domains like BFSI, healthcare, retail, cybersecurity, law, and more, with startups, governments, and major tech players in the world contributing in all possible ways.
However, with the higher use of AI, there is a more significant concern arising around ethics, explainability, bias, transparency, and accountability. There is a need for the above-mentioned aspects to be embedded deep within each step of setting up AI ecosystems. It is crucial to make the developers of these ecosystems well aware and informed around various responsible data-centric innovations, their potential with ethics and privacy.
It goes without saying that the abuse of artificial intelligence needs practitioner-centric initiatives along with a robust regulatory framework and inclusive policymaking.
In an endeavour to create a guide around these parameters, the Data Security Council of India (DSCI) collaborated with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ), Digital India Foundation, and Koan Advisory Group. The launch event for the handbook took place on 14th July in a virtual launch event. The event started off with a keynote by Dr Saurabh Gaur, Joint Secretary MeitY, followed by the launch and open floor discussion.
In the keynote, Dr Saurabh Gaur stressed using AI for social good and use data with utmost care to bring quality to the AI-based innovations.
DSCI (Data Security Council of India) is a not-for-profit industry body on data protection in India, set up by NASSCOM working towards making cyberspace safe, secure, and trustworthy by establishing best practices, standards and initiatives in cybersecurity and privacy.
According to Ms Rama Vedashree, CEO at Data Security Council of India, “The handbook encourages developers to take an interdisciplinary view, think beyond the confines of algorithmic accuracy and give a thought to the social impact of the product and adequate attention to accountability and transparency, right from the design stage.”
Koan Advisory is a New Delhi-based public policy consultancy firm. It has a multi-disciplinary team of lawyers, economists, social scientists, and communications professionals who work with clients in the public and private sectors to help shape policy discourse in India. Koan Advisory’s subject area expertise includes intellectual property and innovation, competition and market structures, trade and commerce, and governance of new and emerging technology.
Digital India Foundation is a policy think-tank promoting Digital Inclusion, CyberSecurity, Mobile Manufacturing, Domestic Consumption, Software Products, and Smart Cities. Since its inception in 2015, it has worked with pioneers in the industry, academia, and government organizations on issues ranging from promoting a safer and inclusive product to and policy environment for the Indian ecosystem.
The German Development Cooperation initiative “FAIR Forward – Artificial Intelligence for All” strives for a more open, inclusive, and sustainable approach to AI on an international level. To achieve this, they are working with five partner countries: Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, and India. They are focusing on three main goals: Strengthen Local Technical Know-How, Remove Entry Barriers to AI, and Develop Policy Frameworks Ready for AI.
According to Dr Arvind Gupta, Head, and Co-Founder Digital India Foundation, “A fearless embrace of AI requires supportive baseline conditions. This means that society at large must be convinced of the symbiotic nature of technology, through participative and robust design. We have kept these inclusive first principles in mind to create this instructional guide. We thank all the developers and domain experts who helped us shape this handbook and hope that its contents are widely discussed among relevant communities.”
The Handbook, Data Protection and Privacy for Developers of Artificial Intelligence in India: Practical Guidelines for the Responsible Development of AI is a comprehensive document that details the rules and best practices on the ethical use of AI. This will work as a guide for developers to develop software tools that adhere to the ethical and moral principles of privacy, dignity, fairness, and equity in the use of AI by different entities. The ethical principles mentioned in the handbook are in line with the principles proposed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and India’s NITI Aayog. The legal-regulatory requirements correspond to the provisions under India’s Draft Data Protection Bill, 2019 and Information Technology Act, 2000.
The handbook is a result of 6 months of efforts of various organizations and experts. It discusses key concepts like bias, privacy, data security, transparency, and accountability. The best practices, checklists, and citations are meant to facilitate a rigorous yet, pragmatic and actionable understanding of the subject at hand. The idea is to plug the gap between developers and the legal framework with the handbook divided into two sections – Ethics (Section I) and the Law (Section II). Section I covers Ethics in AI, and Section II investigates the legal requirements for data protection.
Such groundwork sets the stage right for upcoming projects and guides the developers, AI enthusiasts, and other stakeholders in understanding the privacy and legal aspects too. We hope to see such handbooks being avidly used by academia and organizations in spreading awareness around AI and related technology-powered systems.
Source: indiaai.gov.in
