Call to regulate AI, robotics

Information Technology ministers of Bangladesh and West Bengal on Thursday voiced concern over the ills of the next phase of digital wave that focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics which may cause irreparable damage to humanity.

Speaking at 'Infocom 2018', which got underway on Thursday, both Bangladesh IT minister Mustafa Jabbar and West Bengal IT minister Amit Mitra supported the use of digital technolgy but not in an "indiscriminate fashion".

Jabbar said the major challenge for Bangladesh was to create jobs but if technology churns out driverless cars what will happen to lakhs of driver jobs.

Jabbar highlighted his country's digital journey and said Bangladesh is now able to deliver as many as 300 services on digital platform.

Mitra said if machine learning goes to a level where robots can anticipate each and every move of humans, then it would be a rather hopeless situation.

Mitra highlighted the achievements of West Bengal in e-taxation, e-treasury, e-districts in which 85 government-to-citizens services had been included in 21 districts and e-office for governments speedy clearances of files.