A panel appointed by the ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) has recommended an inter-ministerial or whole-of-a-government approach to govern artificial intelligence (AI).
This is because a collaborative and co-ordinated approach by various regulators can enable them to be more efficient and effective, given the complexity likely to be involved in dealing with AI systems at scale, according to the panel.
The panel said the committee can be headed by the principal scientific adviser and include representatives from all the ministries. Even the non-official members could include persons capable of representing the interests of AI developers, AI deployers, data providers, data principals and end-users – so that the perspectives of the overall ecosystem can be considered, a report by the panel said.
The recommendations were made in the ‘Report on AI Governance Guidelines Development’. The report is out for public consultations, for which the comments can be sent till January 27.
The panel wants MeitY to have a technical secretariat or advisory body and act as the coordination focal point for this governance group, which should build an AI incident database to understand the actual incidence of AI-related risks in India.
“The call for a whole-of-government approach recognises the sectoral nuances of AI applications. From use cases emerging across sectors like healthcare, finance, agriculture, education, logistics, and more, a coordinated, specialised strategy is vital to ensure AI governance is not just comprehensive but also adaptable to varied sectoral demands,” said Jameela Sahiba, senior programme manager at The Dialogue.
According to Sahiba, during the consultations, it will be essential to elaborate on how a sector-specific framework can be developed that accounts for the unique challenges each industry faces while ensuring consistency in overarching governance principles.
MeitY is currently not looking at regulating AI but instead will follow a common code of conduct approach till the time the market matures.
In order to enhance transparency and governance across the AI ecosystem, the panel has recommended that the technical secretariat should engage the industry to drive voluntary commitments on transparency across the overall AI ecosystem.
The technical secretariat should examine the suitability of technological measures to address AI related risks such as use of watermarking, labelling and fact-checking to deal with deepfakes, according to the panel.