Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M).
Credit: PTI Photo
Chennai: A joint study by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) and Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Delhi, has exhorted the need for participatory approaches in the development and governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in India and elsewhere.
Adopting a participatory approach to AI governance, establishing clear mechanisms for stakeholder identification, developing effective methods for collating and translating stakeholder input, addressing ethical considerations throughout the AI lifecycle, and prioritizing human oversight and control are some of the suggestions that the study has made.
While the authors investigated various issues that have cropped up in the recent past when it comes to AI governance and explored viable solutions in the first paper, they analysed two use cases of AI solutions and their governance in the second paper.
The study identified the primary reasons why a participatory approach in AI development can improve the outcomes of the AI algorithm as well as enhance the fairness of the process.
“The widespread adoption of AI technologies in the public and private sectors has resulted in them significantly impacting the lives of people in new and unexpected ways. In this context, it becomes important to inquire how their design, development and deployment takes place,” Prof B Ravindran, Head, WSAI, IIT-M, said.
This study found that persons who will be impacted by the deployment of these systems have little to no say in how they are developed. “Seeing this as a major gap, this research study advances the premise that a participatory approach is beneficial to building and using more responsible, safe, and human-centric AI systems,” he added.
Shehnaz Ahmed, Lead, Law and Technology, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, said there is a recognition of the value of participatory approaches in AI development and governance.
“However, the lack of a clear framework for implementing these principles limits their adoption. This report addresses critical challenges by offering a sector-agnostic framework that answers key questions such as how to identify stakeholders, involve them throughout the AI lifecycle, and effectively integrate their feedback,” he said.