Artificial Intelligence would at some point of time get regulated by governments, but it requires governance norms developed consensually as opposed to hard government legislation, says Paul Burton, general manager, of IBM Asia Pacific. Paul was responding to a media query on the role of the government in shaping ethical AI.
However, he stressed the need for consensually developing norms that reach to every practitioner of AI. “No matter how much it is regulated, it requires a behavioural change, it requires the development of norms that permeate the practitioners,” Paul Burton said on the sidelines of the IBM Think event, in which the company showcased its latest developments in the field of AI, hybrid cloud and quantum computing.
Burton said that he welcomes government regulations but those regulations should evolve in consultation with industries.
He said that a lot of thinking has already gone into regulating AI and that the talks on governance norms are already in advanced stages. “There’s a lot of thinking, there’s a lot of material coming out in the press, in academia and from government think tanks on this,” he said.
Speaking on the issue of ethical Artificial Intelligence, IBM India and South Asia Managing Director Sandip Patel, said AI has to stand the test of time if it wants to revolutionise and democratise technology and bridge the digital divide.
“AI has to be ethical, sensitive to data privacy and the rights of individuals, or else it could be dangerous, which we cannot afford as a society. It is down to our collective leadership to steer India into the AI era that benefits our consumers, clients and the society at large,” said Patel.
What is ethical AI?
IBM India MD says that ethical AI is all about having a level of transparency in the foundational models that are being used or data that is being used, and these should be explainable.
According to Patel, the real test for ethical AI is its actual use for the greater social good. As AI becomes a more mature technology, we do need to have a policy around it that enables AI for the greater good, he says.
Patel says AI will power a billion dreams and more and will be foundational in bridging the digital divide not just in India but around the world. According to him, AI and Generative AI will be revolutionised and democratised with the technology reaching every corner of the country in accessible language and form. Patel says there has been a lot of experimentation around AI, and now it is time AI is infused into business processes and solutions so that they can be scalable.