Economic & Political Weekly | On Regulating AI

The article titled “India’s Approach towards Regulation of Artificial Intelligence: Utilising the International Experience” by Jawahar Bhagwat and S Y Boldyreva (EPW, 30 December 2023)identifies three primary concerns regarding the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in India: job displacement, proliferation of misinformation, and preservation of research integrity. While legitimate, these are not necessarily the top concerns with respect to AI. The article lacks comprehensiveness and portrays AI in a predominantly negative light. The proposed recommendations are likely to substantially impede India’s contributions to the development of AI and severely restrict its ability to use AI for its benefit. Read the full article here.

The Wire | Compensation for Accident Victims Isn’t a ‘Favour’ – and the State Must Be More Accountable

The death of our fellow citizens by accident is a matter of routine. Turning the daily newspaper to the city pages inevitably brings news of deaths from accidents of various kinds – a stray bike rider here, a lone bicyclist there, two people sleeping on the pavement, and so on. Every so often, reports of accidents that have a higher count of casualties make it to the front pages, sometimes as the lead story. These describe a bus falling into a gorge or catching fire, a train smashing into another, and on occasion, a boat overturning. Other forms of accidents – bridge or building collapses, stampedes, fires and such – are rarer, but still feature multiple times a year. In India, there is no end to the news of accidental death. Read the full article here.

Execute Open-Access Mandate for Academia

The United States (US) announced recently that all taxpayer-supported research must be immediately made available to the public at no cost. This will become the norm by the end of 2025. This policy is likely to have worldwide ramifications including India. In the short term, India needs to support its researchers through increased funding and find ways to make Indian publishers globally competitive.