The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is getting ready to take action against anti-competitive practices in the artificial intelligence (AI) domain, said CCI chairperson Ravneet Kaur on Monday. She said that through the market study on AI’s impact on competition – which was conducted last year by MDI Gurrgaon, the regulator has identified potential anti-competitive conduct, and action will be taken against AI firms found to be violating the norms.
“We have identified potential areas of violations which includes concentration in AI value chain, algorithmic collusion, targeted price discrimination, self-preferencing and opaqueness in the AI applications and tools,” Kaur said.
Despite flagging anti-trust concerns in the AI space, Kaur said that there are huge amount of benefits of AI. “There are a lot of efficiency gains. It helps MSME access the market, reduces the cost of being a market player, but the potential anti-competitive actions also need to be watched.
The initial stage
At the initial stage, we have issued a guidance note which prescribes self-audit for boards and management in an organisation so that they can ensure that at the stage of development and deployment of AI applications, there are no hidden anti-competitive outcomes which may be happening knowingly or unknowingly,” she said at the 11th National Conference on Economics of Competition Law.
Meanwhile, the CCI is also doing a study on the renewable energy sector where it’s getting inputs from the BRICS nations. The insights from the member nations will be leveraged to look at competition issues in the renewable energy market in India. “We are trying to complete this study before the upcoming BRICS summit to be held in India,” she said.
Over the past one year, the regulator received a total of 1,360 antitrust information, out of which 1,211 have already been decided and disposed of. On the merger front also, the commission remain active with the disposal rate of over 99%. For instance, out of a total of 1,389 applications received in the past one year, the 1,372 have been disposed of.
“In the last year, orders were passed in defence procurement, liquor and solid waste management sectors. Currently, we are looking at matters in a diverse range of sectors such as sports, civil aviation, paints and varnishes and liquor,” Kaur said.
At the event, Rajiv Gauba, member of NITI Aayog, said that while the it’s important to encourage digital innovation and attract global tech investments, policies must also protect Indian entrepreneurs and consumers from unfair digital monopolies.
“We must avoid the extremes. Over-regulation can curtail or kill innovation. Draconian ex-ante rules might deter new entrants. On the other hand, under-regulation can entrench incumbent players and gatekeepers. The answer lies in principle-based, technology-neutral rules being developed and applied with sound economics which also allow for agility as markets change,” he said.