Editorial: Regulating AI

The Artificial Intelligence Act passed by the European Parliament recently can form the basis for similar legislations in other countries

A major challenge before the countries planning to regulate artificial intelligence technologies is to strike a fine balance between addressing the attendant risks and promoting innovations. Any technological tool that has a far-reaching impact on societies is like a double-edged weapon; it can cut both ways. While it has the potential to transform human lives at a pace never seen in history, there are also possibilities of the technology being misused to spread disinformation and chaos. The Artificial Intelligence Act passed by the European Parliament recently can form the basis for similar legislations in other countries. However, each nation needs to formulate its own policies to regulate the technology depending on the specific needs and the levels of adoption. The European Union’s new law is the first comprehensive framework for governing a technology that has seen explosive growth in recent years, evoking excitement and fear in equal measure. India’s approach towards regulating AI comes as an intersection of enabling innovation, while enforcing guardrails that put checks on AI harm — a concern that New Delhi has raised at several forums. Some countries, including Japan and Brazil, have put in place stringent regulations while United States President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order on AI safety. The EU has largely adopted a risk-averse approach that will apply across sectors of AI development, classifying the technology into four categories: Prohibited, high-risk, limited-risk and minimal-risk. High-risk systems, which have a significant impact on people’s lives and rights, such as those used for biometric identification or in education, health and law enforcement, will have to meet strict requirements before they can be put on the market.

Systems involving user interaction, like chatbots and image-generation programs, are classified as limited-risk and are required to inform users that they are interacting with AI and allow them to opt out. Historically, the European nations have faced criticism for being over-regulated and stifling innovations. Countries like India, where AI tools have the transformative potential, must take a balanced approach to ensure free flow of ideas and innovations while effectively addressing the risks at the application level. The proliferation of deep fakes, the digital alteration of videos to spread false and misleading information, is a major area of concern. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been working on a framework for responsible AI. The challenge is to safeguard citizens’ rights, while continuing to make room for the transformative possibilities of AI. Typically, governments across the world have lagged in innovation, and allowed it to go unregulated for many years. As a result, there are big islands of commercial power who are distorting the open nature of the internet. Regulating anything on the internet cannot happen in silos now, because it is found that in most cases the perpetrators of fraud are based in one jurisdiction while victims in another.

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