The Centre for Responsible AI at IIT Madras, which was formally launched by MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar in April, presented its first workshop on “Responsible AI for India” on Monday to advance the moral and ethical creation of AI-based solutions in the real world.
The research center, which recently got $1 million from Google, aspires to become a premier regional, national, and global research hub for both basic and applied research in Responsible AI, with a clear bearing on integrating AI technologies into the Indian ecosystem.
The main objective of CeRAI will be to provide top-notch research outputs, including patents, white papers, and research publications at conferences or journals with broad influence. It will seek to provide technical resources in the area of Responsible AI, including software, toolkits, curated datasets (both general and unique to India), and so on.
Abhishek Singh, Managing Director and CEO of Digital India Corporation, made the following statement during the opening session of the first workshop: “I am sure that the deliberations that will happen today in this workshop and the various panel discussions will go a long way in helping us evolve our framework, our guidelines, and our policies for responsible AI.”
The risks and difficulties that remain as we use the same technologies to address societal issues, ensure access to healthcare, make healthcare more affordable, make education more inclusive, and boost agricultural productivity must be understood by those involved in policymaking and those working at the forefront of developing technologies, he continued.
In addition, Singh noted that a non-biased and non-discriminatory AI framework is required since different needs call for different customizations.
The director of the Centre for Responsible AI, Prof. Balaraman Ravindran, said in the meantime: “AI models need to give performance guarantees relevant to the applications they are deployed in. This includes information on data security, privacy, how well decisions are made, etc. Research is required to provide assurance and risk models for AI systems used in many industries.
The center will provide suggestions and instructions for policymakers that are industry-specific in accordance with IIT. All stakeholders will get the essential toolkits for guaranteeing ethical and responsible management and monitoring of AI systems that are being created and implemented with the aid of the research outputs that have been successfully produced.
CeRAI also plans to provide all stakeholders the chance to participate in specialized training or sensitization programs so they may better grasp the issues with ethical and responsible AI. It will hold a number of technical conferences and seminars on specialized topics related to deployable AI systems, with emphasis on the ethical and responsible guidelines that must be followed.
Co-Founder and CTO of WorkIndia, Moiz Arsiwala, told News18 that CeRAI has a great deal to offer the Indian ecosystem.
He stated: “By focusing on responsible and ethical AI deployment, the centre ensures that AI systems are developed and implemented in a manner that respects privacy, transparency, fairness, and accountability.”
Furthermore, he said, “we anticipate that education and skill development will have a big influence on the blue-collar business by assuring greater efficiency, reducing manual labor, and a smoother transition for blue-collar employees in the expanding employment market.
Responsible AI is a strategy that emphasizes the ethical and moral issues in the design, development, and deployment of AI systems, according to Dr. Pardeep Kumar, pro-vice chancellor of the Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies (MRIIRS).
According to him, there is a rising need for AI systems that be created and implemented in a responsible way as AI systems become more widespread in society. Dr. Kumar further thinks that ethical AI might have an immediate effect on the implementation of AI systems in the Indian ecosystem.
Similar to this, Anil Sinha, CTO of Fibe, said that artificial intelligence is what is causing the IT industry to go through its biggest revolution to date. According to him, it is altering how we work and think in the present.
“Since we need to be at the forefront of AI innovation, I'm glad to see our university taking the lead in this field. It will promote innovation in a variety of fields, including agriculture, education, business, and defense. The possibilities are limitless; for the benefit of everyone, we must lead by example and use ethical AI principles.
