SFLC.IN’s Comments on NITI Aayog’s Working Document on Responsible #AIForAll
The NITI Aayog released its working document on “Responsible #AIforAll” on July 21st, 2020 for discussion with stakeholders on the subject. The documents serves as an important groundwork on ethics of AI in India as well as for legislative considerations which have to be taken into account while drafting legislation on AI. The report initially was accepting public comments till July 31st, 2020 andit was only later the time period of consultation was extended to August 28th, 2020. India is still in nascent stage of exploring the use of Artificial Intelligence and its impact on citizens. Therefore, it is important to give a sufficient time period to all stakeholders to give their comments.
The working paper also states that it was drafted after due consultation from various experts, however, the list of experts consulted was not made public by the NITI Aayog. The consultation process for such important frameworks must be transparent and consultations done by the state must be in public domain. The transparency in decision making process must be respected.
The document focuses on impact of AI in the society but has restricted itself to negative impact of AI. It does not focus on case studies where AI could be used to improve government services, address issues related to accessibility for differently-abled citizens, senior citizens and children with special needs. It could also explore use of AI in climate change data analysis and to control the spread of diseases etc.
Most importantly, the document has not laid down a road-map as to where we are headed with respect to laws on Artificial Intelligence. The document does not provide any clarity on regulations or on the remedies available for a citizen when faced with harm caused by an AI system. The Document does not delineate the applicability of AI in India, rights available to citizens, co-existence of these principles with the principles of data protection, a legislative framework enumerating rights of citizens, remedies available and grievance redressal mechanism either.
Read our comments on the document here:
