Technology an Enabler of Economic Transformation but Its Ethical use Must Be Ensured Through Global Standards

Last week Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the International Telecommunication Union – World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (ITU-WTSA) and the 8th edition of the India Mobile Congress (IMC). For India, this was a historic occasion as it hosted this mega-event for the first time. In fact, this is also the first time the event was held in the Asia-Pacific region.

The ITU-WTSA is a major conference held by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency focused on digital technologies and communication. This event, held every four years, is crucial for setting global standards for new technologies. The event highlighted the push for universal connectivity, the need for ethical artificial intelligence (AI), and how digital inclusion can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.

While India being a host of this quadrennial event is undoubtedly a momentous occasion, but the major highlight of this event was Prime Minister’s highly visionary speech. We are all witness to how Prime Minister with his innovative thinking and related actions through policies have proved that technology can be a big driver in social transformation.

Starting with opening of bank accounts for millions of poor Indians who were deprived of access to basic financial services, followed by aggressive promotion of usage of digital payment and the application of digital technology for bringing efficiency in public governance, India under the leadership of Prime Minister has demonstrated to the world how technology can be an agent of economic empowerment for the masses.     

Innovative application of technology can help tackle the world’s most pressing challenges. In fact, digital technologies can help achieve 70% of target under the UN SDG by 2030. Yet glaring digital gaps hinder development in many parts of the world. The lack of policies, investment, and digital skills leaves countries struggling to keep pace with the fast-changing digital landscape. Today, 2.6 billion people are still offline around the world.

Given the existing scenario, the Prime Minister very rightly emphasized the need for a human-centric dimension to the ongoing technological revolution, calling for responsible and sustainable innovation. As the focus of the event was on standardization, Prime Minister said that the standards setting must be based on the principles of security, dignity and equity. He urged to ensure that the future must be technically strong as well as ethically sound with innovation as well as inclusion.

The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of establishing a global framework for digital technology. Technology has enabled billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge. These will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as AI, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, 3-D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing.

Here it is worth mentioning the warning issued by this year Nobel Prize winner in Physics Geoffrey Hinton. While he acknowledged that AI could transform society for the better through huge improvement in productivity in areas like health care, but he also emphasised the potential for a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control.

Already, AI is all around us, from self-driving cars and drones to virtual assistants and software that translate. Impressive progress has been made in AI in recent years, driven by exponential increases in computing power and by the availability of vast amounts of data, from software used to discover new drugs to algorithms used to predict our cultural interests.

While AI continues to be a powerful engine driving prosperity and progress, but there are serious risks associated with it. Risks are already materialising that include biasedness, discrimination, manipulation of consumers, the polarisation of opinions, privacy infringement, and widespread surveillance. Businesses involved in the development and use of AI systems are expected to respect human rights and international standards on responsible business conduct through due diligence.

Already there is a call from the global community, the G20 and the United Nations High-Level Advisory Body on AI for comprehensive and impactful AI standards. The leading developers of global standards are ITU, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). These institutions are working to stitch global collaboration on AI for social good and supporting standards development and capacity building.

Besides, the OECD too have developed tools and live data via its OECD.AI Policy Observatory for AI actors to be accountable for the proper functioning of their AI systems in accordance with their role, context, and ability to act. Likewise, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises aim to minimize adverse impacts that may be associated with an enterprise’s operations, products and services. As calls for the development of accountability mechanisms and risk management frameworks continue to grow, OECD has published a common guidepost to promote interoperability, which would enhance efficiency and reduce enforcement and compliance costs. 

As regards, national level legislations, the European Union lawmakers signed the AI act in June 2024, which entered into force in August 2024. The AI act, the first binding worldwide horizontal regulation on AI, sets a common framework for the use and supply of AI systems in the EU. The new act of EU offers a classification with different requirements and obligations tailored to a ‘risk-based approach’. The categories include – unacceptable, high-risk, limited-risk, and minimal-risk. 

As per the EU Act, AI systems presenting ‘unacceptable’ risks are prohibited. The ‘high-risk’ AI systems that can have a detrimental impact on people’s health, safety or on their fundamental rights are authorised, but subject to a set of requirements and obligations for gaining access to EU market. AI systems posing limited risks because of their lack of transparency will be subject to information and transparency requirements only, while AI systems presenting only minimal risk for people will not be subject to further obligations.

In US, President Biden has signed an executive order to advance agencies’ efforts across the federal government, building on previous actions to harness the benefits and mitigate the risks of AI. In view of the criticality of digital technology and its borderless applications, a collective global collaborative action is needed to combat cyber threats by creating a secure digital ecosystem and safe channel of e-communication. While framing standards and sound regulatory structure, one must ensure that these rules must be inclusive, secure, and adaptable to future challenges, including ethical AI and data privacy standards that respect the diversity of nations.

Deep Kapuria is the Chairman of The Hi-Tech Group of Companies comprising The Hi-Tech Gears, The Hi-Tech Engineering Systems, The Hi-Tech e-Soft, and Novus Hi-Tech Robotic Systemz. The Group has manufacturing, R&D and engineering facilities in India, Canada and USA. He is also the Past Co-Chair of Digital Economy and Industry 4.0 Task Force of B20, 2018 Argentina and Past Co-Chairman, CII National Committee on International Trade & Trade Policy.

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