Need to be alert about AI for transparency: CCI chairperson Ravneet Kaur

CCI Chairperson Ravneet Kaur says regulators must stay alert as AI adoption accelerates, stressing transparency, accountability and competition safeguards to prevent unfair conduct in digital markets

The governments need to be very active towards deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and regulators like the Competition Commission of India (CCI) need to be alert about the systems being put in place to ensure transparency and accountability, Ravneet Kaur, chairperson, CCI, said on Friday.

 

Speaking at the AI Summit, Kaur said, “At the end of the day, if you can build trust and your systems are not opaque, then you would be able to bring people on board to your apps, systems. That is where success lies.”

 

The CCI chairperson highlighted that access is a crucial factor when it comes to AI. “Whoever has the access - access to data, skill sets, infrastructure, will determine what will happen in future,” she added. 

 

Kaur said that things are moving rapidly on the digital front and the Commission is looking at developments in the internet economy in terms of value creation and the way consumers are interacting with the market. 

 

“There are efficiencies because of AI but also risks. Some of the key risks we have observed are self preferencing, tying and bundling, leveraging, exclusive agreements with unfair terms being sought,” Kaur said in the panel discussion on Global Perspectives on Unpacking Openness and Trust in Artificial Intelligence. 

 

The CCI, she said, has looked at such conduct in digital platforms, including search engines, intermediation services such as food delivery, travel and social media platforms. 

 

Kaur said that AI can bring a lot of benefits in sectors such as healthcare, education, logistics, agriculture and supply chain management. She said that there were potential risks in concentration of the entire AI value chain where there is targeted price discrimination based on economic means, location, or opaque systems and exclusive partnerships. 

 

The CCI chairperson said that the Commission would come into the picture if innovation is being used to ensure that no other people can come into the market or enforce unfair conditions. 

 

Stressing that the purpose of the antitrust regulator was not to stifle innovation and that consumer welfare was not the most critical factor, Kaur said, ”We are here, in fact, to protect innovation, because that is the way to grow. That is the way new players will keep coming in, bringing better technologies, better value for the customer.”

 

She said that competition is what would ensure that there are no entry barriers and that players who are already there are not using their dominance to foreclose competition.