ET Soonicorns Summit 2024: Can AI ever be ethical?

The uses of AI extend far beyond chatbots, code automation, email summarization and powering enterprise products. But can AI, even when used for the collective good, be trusted to make ethical decisions? And can data protection and innovation co-exist in this rapidly evolving sector?

This was the focus of the interesting discussion “Addressing the ethical imperative of AI through India’s AI policy and global regulations” at the ET Soonicorns 2024 Summit in Bengaluru.

Asked whether ethical AI is possible, panelist Siddharth Bhardwaj, CEO of music creation platform Beatoven.ai, joked that it is, but “the cost of it is higher than doing things unethically, which is why unethical AI is popular.”

AI Foundry President and ARTPARK Co-Founder Umakant Soni, Agami Co-Founder Sachin Malhan, and Netradyne SVP of Engineering Vinay Rai were the other panelists in the 40-minute discussion.

While he stressed the need to make training data transparent, Soni said it is only possible to know if something is “ethical” when it is used in a specific setting or in a certain way.

“As a society, we need to reflect on whether AI will lead to sustainable change or be too disruptive to the way we function,” he mused. Soni also proposed the idea of ​​AI cities, where emerging technology can be physically isolated to test whether an AI model is safe, sustainable and ethical before finding wider adoption.

Vinay Rai stressed that while strict government regulation is not the way forward, it must also be acknowledged that AI companies are not doing enough to prioritise safety guardrails and data sanctity when creating AI models. “To enable the AI ​​ecosystem, it is necessary to ensure that all people have access. And when all people have access, bad actors are inevitable,” he said.

Sachin Malhan of Agami, who advocates open-source AI as a digital public good in the realm of law and justice, said the AI ​​infrastructure gap in India is so large that it makes no sense to build physical facilities like AI-enabled legal aid clinics or courts.

“The good thing is that India is now quite flexible in its regulatory approach because it recognises that things take time. Let’s get more people involved and learn more before we decide what the ethical framework should be,” he said.

ET Soonicorns Summit 2024 was sponsored by Phoenix Kessaku. Training Partner: UpGrad Enterprise; Insurance Partner: PolicyBazaar for Business; Banking Partner: Bank of India. Gifting Partners: IGP.com; The Mind and Company, Plum, Clay Capital.