NITI Aayog floats draft document to define ethics in AI application

Government policy think tank NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) has released a draft document titled ‘Responsible AI for All’ for stakeholder discussion.

The discussion to address concerns around the ethical use of AI is part of the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (NSAI), which was released in June 2018.

Among other things, the draft document proposes the introduction of ethics of AI in the university curriculum and government-funded projects for research in responsible AI. It also proposes setting up multi-disciplinary ethical committees for enforcement of principles of responsible AI across multiple sectors including health, education, finance as well as public, private and research sectors working with AI. 

The current draft paper proposes a re-look at existing regulations to make AI more accountable, including the creation of sector-specific laws for the technology. 

“For example, use of AI in administrative decisions by the state would be required to explain the decision-making process,” the section on legislation in the draft said. 

The gap analysis conducted in the paper asks for overarching principles for the formation of standards and regulations. It also states that although there are existing regulations for areas such as privacy, inclusiveness and accountability, there is a need to adapt for AI-specific challenges to eliminate bias and explain the decision making processes in specific cases. 

The draft paper which was prepared for expert consultation on July 21 has invited stakeholder comments till August 10.