Use of AI raises ethical concerns: Govt in Rajya Sabha

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the concerns have been highlighted in the National Strategy for AI (NSAI) released in June 2018 adding that various Central and State government departments and agencies have commenced efforts on standardising responsible AI development.

New Delhi: The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) raises ethical concerns and risks due to issues such as bias in decision-making, lack of transparency and questions about the responsibility of harm caused by AI, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Replying to a question as to whether the Government is aware of Capgemini report in 2022, as referred to by NITI Ayog in their report "Responsible AI", 85 per cent of the surveyed organizations in India have encountered ethical concerns from the use of AI, the Union Minister said that he was aware of it.

"Yes Sir, Government is aware of NITI Aayog’s report on ‘Responsible AI’ wherein reference has been cited to the Capgemini report. While AI is a kinetic enabler of a Digital Economy and innovation ecosystem, the use of AI raises ethical concerns and risks due to issues such as bias and discrimination in decision-making, privacy violations, lack of transparency in AI systems, and questions about responsibility for harm caused by AI," stated Chandra Sekhar in a written reply.

He further stated that the concerns have been highlighted in the National Strategy for AI (NSAI) released in June 2018 adding that various Central and State government departments and agencies have commenced efforts on standardising responsible AI development and use and facilitating the adoption of best practices.

"Using several reports highlighting the ethical concerns from the use of AI, published by organizations including Capgemini, NITI Aayog has published a series of papers on the subject of Responsible AI for All," he added.

The Minister further stated that since fairness is one of the many constituents of Responsible AI, the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) has come out with a draft Standard for assessing and rating Artificial Intelligence systems for fairness which can be used for evaluating text-based AI chatbots for fairness.