As Indian companies and the state push
for a full-fledged approach towards the adoption of AI in different industries,
Competition Commission of India (CCI) Chairperson Ravneet Kaur highlighted
the pros and cons of adopting the new technology and staying
ahead of the times.
Speaking at the IndiaAI summit held in
New Delhi from 16th to 20th February, she stressed upon "transparency,
accountability and competition safeguards to prevent unfair conduct in digital
markets". She harped on the fact that "access to data, skill sets and
infrastructure is a crucial factor for the future".
She mentions that AI definitely makes
things faster and easier and can revolutionize healthcare, logistics, and
farming, but it can also create an environment for dominance by the big
players. They could use unfair pricing or exclusive deals to discriminate
against people based on their location or income.
She mentioned that she wants
innovation, but that should act as a shield and not weapon to block competitors
or force unfair deals on people. Innovation is needed to bring in new players,
newer technologies and impart better value for customer. Things should progress
in a way that there are no entry barriers and competition is not squeezed out.
Our view:
The recent AI summit hosted in India
makes a massive statement to the global world by India that it is looking at
the future and is fully prepared to take on and adapt to the innovation, for a
better Economic growth. However, along with the positives that come with
adopting this technology, there are certain critical issues too, that India
needs to look at.
As mentioned in the article, there will
always be some Companies which will be far ahead than the others in the field
of using AI technology. That will be a critical entry barrier for the new
players as the big ones will tend to stifle competition through their better
knowledge. As a result of which, it will just not be the smaller players and
the new entrants who will suffer, the ultimate consumers too will be at the
receiving end.
For India, from
Regulators point of view, it is indeed encouraging to know Regulators
like NFRA (as covered in detail in
previous News Summary) and now CCI are showing encouraging signals for
implementing AI with safeguards.
https://www.business-standard.com/industry/news/need-transparent-accountable-ai-systems-says-cci-chief-ravneet-kaur-126022001245_1.html
