A

Paper

on

Regulation of Artificial Intelligence

[Risks,Need,Issues]

Submitted By:
Asha Rani Kaindal
B. Tech (CS) + L.L.B. (Cyber Law)
Upes, Dehradun
INTRODUCTION
"Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might
also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks." -- Stephen Hawking.
Disruptive technologies arrive with regularity. Whether it is the first industrial revolution, or
subsequent revolutions which brought communications, aviation and eventually digitisation.
We stand at the edge of the next revolution the AI revolution where methods of artificial
intelligence and machine learning offer possibilities hitherto unimagined. 1Artificial intelligence
technology (or AI) has developed rapidly, and the effects of the AI revolution are already being
keenly felt in many sectors of the economy. The unique features of AI and the manner in which
AI can be developed present both practical and conceptual challenges for the legal system.
Organizations need to craft a reasonable balance between what data is needed to have AI
properly work and people’s trust. In 2018 Congress had a few hearings on AI. These hearings
addressed some critical issues such as privacy and job displacement. 2 According to a report
published by the Brookings Institution, the Indian AI industry “has seen growth, with a total of
$150 million invested in more than 400 companies over the past five years.” 3

RISKS
AI has been hailed as revolutionary and world-changing, but it's not without drawbacks. It is
stated that AI guiding weapon systems can be scary. Similarly, abusing the technology will have
disastrous consequences. Job automation is viewed as the most immediate concern. As AI
robots become smarter and more dextrous, the same tasks will require fewer humans.
Widening socioeconomic inequality sparked by AI-driven job loss is another cause for concern.
The key question for humanity today is whether to start a global AI arms race or to prevent it
from starting.4The current debate of facial recognition software reflects the dilemma. However,
there are concerns about the purpose and safety of its usage.
NEED FOR REGULATION
The usage of certain technologies should be regulated, to prevent the misuse of the technology.
1. AI can be a double-edged sword
If highly advanced and complex AI systems are left uncontrolled and unsupervised, they stand
the risk of deviating from desirable behavior and perform tasks in unethical ways. There have
been many instances where AI systems tried to fool its human developers by “cheating” in the
way they performed tasks they were programmed to do. For example, an AI tasked with
generating virtual maps from real aerial images cheated in the way it performed its task by
hiding data from its developers.
2. AI ethics is not enough

1
U. Beck, Risk Society, Towards a New Modernity (Sage, 1992); A. Giddens, Consequences of Modernity (Polity,
1990); A. Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age (CUP, 1991).
2
Michael Hayes, This is the year of AI Regulations, Cognitive World, Retrieved May, 2020 at
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2020/03/01/this-is-the-year-of-ai-regulations/#424414807a81.
3
Shamika Ravi & Puneeth Nagaraj, Harnessing the Future of AI in India, BROOKINGS (Oct. 18, 2018),
https://www.brookings.edu/research/harnessing-the-future-of-ai-in-india/.
4
Mike Thomas, Risks of Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence (Apr. 07, 2020), https://builtin.com/artificial-
intelligence/risks-of-artificial-intelligence.
To prevent AI from doing things wrong (or doing the wrong things), it is important for the
developers to exercise more caution and care while creating these systems. And the way the AI
community is trying to achieve this currently is by having a generally accepted set of ethics and
guidelines surrounding the ethical development and use of AI. For instance, Google recently
pledged to not use AI for military applications after its employees openly opposed the notion.
3. AI safety can only be achieved by regulating AI
Legally regulating AI can ensure that AI safety becomes an inherent part of any future AI
development initiative. This means that every new AI, regardless of its simplicity or complexity,
will go through a process of development that immanently focus on minimizing non-compliance
and chances of failure. To ensure AI safety, the regulators must consider a few must-have
tenets as a part of the legislation.5

ISSUES
1. Attribution of Liability
The challenges imposed by machines and robots are to a large extent the same as those by
humans. Under consumer protection laws, this raises the issue of attribution of liability in case
of a harm by an AI system. e.g. a driverless car causing an accident should also attribute liability
for accidents that were foreseeable.
2. Legal personality for AI applications
Unpredictability of AI applications is probably perceived as the biggest challenge in regulating
AI. It stems from the unpredictability of automation. It is possible that AI application takes
decisions or leads to outcomes that are outside the purview of the design. Therefore a question
that has been raised is whether some types of AI application have a legal personality that is
distinct from its creator or operator. However, even if AI were to have an independent legal
personality, some of the liabilities especially on account of criminal action would need to travel
back to human beings involved in its design and deployment. Then there are issues like
nationality to be given to a robot, if a distinct legal personality were to be defined. Sophia, the
Saudi Arabian humanoid comes to mind here.
3. Promoting AI
Asymmetry in current access and title to data to all potential developers of AI has been
identified as a key issue. This is in a way a competition issue. Similarly, there are issues around
IP rights for various algorithms that are developed. Again such issues could be potentially
addressed through IP laws in how they would apply to patenting of algorithms, grant
inventorship and address relevant issues.6

While regulating AI is necessary, it should not be done in a way that stifles the existing
momentum in AI research and development. Thus, the challenge will be to strike a balance
between allowing enough freedom to developers and bringing in more accountability for the
makers of AI.

5
Navin Joshi, Why Governemnts need to Regulate AI, Allerin (May 01,2019), https://www.allerin.com/blog/why-
governments-need-to-regulate-ai.
6
Natasha Nayak & Rajnish Gupta, Regulating Artificial Intelligence,Technology(Apr. 30, 2020),
https://www.mondaq.com/india/new-technology/914028/regulating-artificial-intelligence.