Big tech, AI expansion raise competition risks: CCI chief at BS Manthan

Speaking at BS Manthan, CCI Chairperson Ravneet Kaur said while AI offers significant advantages, it also poses risks such as targeted price discrimination

The rapid expansion of big tech firms and artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping India’s competition landscape, prompting closer regulatory scrutiny, Ravneet Kaur, chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), said on Wednesday.

 

Speaking on Day 2 of the BS Manthan summit, Kaur said digital markets and large technology platforms have emerged as a key focus area for the regulator in recent years. She said these firms pose risks around "potential anti-competitive practices" such as self-preferencing, tying and bundling, anti-competitive agreements, and enforcing unfair terms on users.

 

Kaur said the emergence of AI has further accelerated these developments. "The pace is so rapid that, as a regulator, we felt the need to understand what is happening on the AI front. We have conducted a market study on AI and competition. We are equipping ourselves to handle the issues that are likely to emerge very soon," she said. 

Kaur said that while AI offers significant advantages such as efficiency improvements, better targeting and faster access, it also poses risks such as targeted price discrimination.

 

"There could be targeted price discrimination. As long as you are getting targeted choices, that is fine. But if it amounts to targeted price discrimination, then there could be issues on that front. AI systems are also very opaque. One of the aspects that came out clearly in the study was that these systems need to be more transparent and more accountable," Kaur said. 

Is CCI planning to adopt AI internally?

On whether the regulator is adopting AI internally, Kaur said the CCI is exploring the possibility but remains cautious. "Data is a major issue. More importantly, we are custodians of highly sensitive commercial data," she said, noting that confidential information provided by parties must remain secure. "We cannot simply adopt any AI tool without ensuring that the data will not go outside our secure systems."

 

When asked how the CCI views market dominance, Kaur said, "Dominance is a very complex matter... An enterprise is considered dominant if it is able to act independently of market forces and can affect consumers and clients accordingly."

 

Kaur further said that market share alone does not determine dominance. In order to check if a company is dominant, she said the regulator examines multiple factors such as the market structure, vertical integration, the size and resources of competitors, and whether buyers possess countervailing power.