Introduction
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have been around for quite some time now and it is just recently that AI has seen a massive uptick in usage across different sectors of the country. It has the potential to dramatically transform countless aspects of Indian society, from healthcare, law-enforcement to businesses, agriculture, transportation, industrialization, and many more sectors. AI uses machine learning which are algorithms to do these numerous jobs. Machine learning helps the AI to identify mistakes and learn from them thereby giving it a more human experience to learn and grow, in effect, continuously improving itself to the changing needs of the society.
Responsibility
As this new tech becomes more integrated into our society, its functioning of it must be kept open to the general public so as to identify flaws in its design and engagement with the data sets. Without this openness in the usage of AI software and tech, the general populace would be apprehensive of the results and outcomes that this technology reveals. Especially when AI is being used in the healthcare sector or the law enforcement sector. This is because technical errors in these two sectors can be fatal to the lives of common citizens.
Case Study
The Delhi Police have admitted to their use of facial recognition software in the investigation of the Kisan Rally at the Red Fort on January 26, 2021, and the Jahangir Puri Riots on April 16, 2022. An RTI filed by the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) made the Delhi Police respond that the accuracy rate of the Facial Recognition Software was at 80%. In ideal situations, the accuracy rate can be as high as 99.97% which includes consistent lighting and positioning. Otherwise, they can go as low as 40%. In 2019, the Delhi Police reported the software’s accuracy rate at 2%. Dr. Matt Wood, the vice president of Artificial Intelligence at Amazon Web Services, in a blog post, wrote that a threshold of 80% accuracy is not the right threshold for public safety use cases and it is very low to ensure accurate identification of individuals.
The Delhi police also never conducted any Privacy Impact Assessment or PIA prior to using Facial Recognition Technology to identify suspected individuals or arrest them. This assessment helps the organizations in the identification process of how personally identifiable information is collected, used, shared, or maintained and the privacy risks that could arise from them.
Legal Framework & Background
There are currently no dedicated legislations for the regulation of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. There is the Information Technology Act of 2000 which deals with data protection, cybersecurity, and electronic transactions, and the upcoming Digital Personal Data Protection Bill of 2022 which deals with data privacy, consent, and the processing of personal data. Both these legislations are relevant to the AI and ML sectors.
Further, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry had set up a Task Force on Artificial Intelligence for the transformation of India’s economic sector. The panel consisted of technical experts, academics, researchers, and industry leaders and explored the possibilities to leverage AI for development purposes across numerous sectors. Also, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology introduced four committees for the promotion of Artificial Intelligence initiatives and to develop policy frameworks. The four committees to be constituted were (1) Committee on Platforms and Data for AI whose job was to build models/frameworks/platforms for collaborative work purposes; (2) Committee on Leveraging AI to identify National Missions in key sectors; (3) Committee on Mapping Technological capabilities, Key Policy enablers required across sectors, Skilling and re-skilling, R&D; and lastly (4) Committee on Cyber Security, Safety, Legal and Ethical Issues. The government of India also established the Centre of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence in the Legal Field (CEAIFL) to address some of the concerns brought about by the advent of AI and ML. In recent memory, the NITI Aayog also released the “National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (“NSAI”) which was a discussion paper, in the hopes of being a starting point for the regulation of the AI landscape in India. Alternatively, an article published by “Business Today” points out that IT and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated to the Parliament that they are currently not planning to regulate the growth or set any laws for AI in our country. However, Minister Vaishnaw also revealed that the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity), along with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) is currently working on a proof-of-concept project on AIRAWAT (AI Research, Analytics and Knowledge Dissemination Platform) which will provide a common computing platform for AI research and knowledge assimilation.
Integration of AI in the Judicial System
India is a highly populated country with a lot of people having legal disputes from the district level to the central level. The massive number of legal disputes has become overwhelming for the judicial system in our country, thereby turning the focus toward AI. The former 47th chief justice of India, Hon’ble S.A. Bobde had proposed to bring in AI in the justice system which would provide ease and support to the overburdened courts. The SC in the year 2021 also launched its AI portal, the Supreme Court Portal for Assistance in Courts Efficiency (SUPACE). Through this portal, the SC has plans to leverage machine learning so as to deal with the massive amounts of data received at the time of filing of cases. In more recent memory, the current chief justice, Hon’ble D.Y. Chandrachud, on February 21st, 2023 introduced his most recent AI-aided initiative, which is the live transcription of Constitution Bench proceedings. This enables the court proceedings to be transcribed and written down live with the help of AI.
References
constitution_of_four_committees_on_artificial_intelligence.pdf (meity.gov.in)
India: Role of Artificial Intelligence in Justice Delivery System | Warwick legal
Supreme Court embraces Artificial intelligence, CJI Bobde says won’t let AI spill over to decision-making (India today.in)
‘No regulations for Artificial Intelligence in India’: IT Minister Ashwin Vaishnaw – BusinessToday