 "Balance privacy & AI innovation in DPDP rules: Global tech body urges govt")
Global tech body Information Technology Industry Council (ITIC) has urged the Indian government to strike a balance between individual privacy and innovation in the country's yet to be notified rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act.
ITIC, which represents 80 technology firms including giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, Dell, and Microsoft, also recommends the use of aggregated sensitive personal data to foster artificial intelligence (AI) driven innovation in India.
Jason Oxman, CEO and president, ITIC, who met officials from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, and PMO during his visit to India last week, said that the government of India, in adopting regulations, should be mindful of the impact it can have on the success of AI in the country.
Members of the ITIC, are also concerned about the timelines that would be prescribed for compliance to the Act once the rules are out.
The tech body has asked the Ministry of Electronics and IT for an 18-24 month-long time period for complying with the legislation, citing global practices.
“What we've suggested to the government is that there are global best practices around compliance timetables, which is generally 18-24 months to make sure that companies have enough time to adapt to the new rules,” Oxman said during an interaction.
More From This Section
“Timelines have been talked about as soon as effective immediately to a few weeks, but it does take a very long time for products to be brought into compliance with the regulatory requirements. So, yes, we have proposed alignment with global standards that have been set for those kinds of things,” he added.
Oxman argued that the compliance, in the case of India, could require dealing with multiple languages, information transmission methods, and retroactive application to existing services.
“Thus, the key is allowing enough time for the industry to implement these correctly, as the government would also want to get it done the right way,” he added.
Oxman said, “The best AI made available in India is AI that has been programmed with the best data. And uses of data in AI have the remarkable ability to change lives for the better in India in areas like medical diagnosis.”
Taking the example of AI’s use in the medical domain, he explained, “AI can assist doctors in determining whether a growth is cancerous or not based on the image, or can prescribe the best course of treatment based on symptoms. The way AI can help doctors do that is because it is programmed by the broadest possible data set.”
“The data protection law mandates safeguarding personal medical information when individuals can be identified. However, anonymised aggregate data, crucial for AI in medical diagnosis, for example, can be used, even if it involves sensitive information, and that is how the approach should be in the upcoming rules,” he added.
The DPDP Act was passed in August last year. However, the pending notification of rules has made the regulation virtually ineffective. Once the rules are notified, there will be a public consultation period, followed by the establishment of the Data Protection Board (DPB).