India Inc gearing up for responsible AI adoption: Nasscom

Bengaluru: In a survey conducted by tech industry body nasscom, 60 per cent of the businesses reported having either matured responsible artificial intelligence (AI) practices and policies in place, or having initiated formal steps towards adoption of the same. About 30 per cent reported having basic awareness of responsible AI imperatives without a formal strategy or framework. 

The survey comes in the light of users and stakeholders, including the government, coming to terms with potential misuses of AI, especially deepfake technology.

“2023 was undoubtedly the year of AI and brought to the fore both opportunities and risks that are central to AI adoption,” nasscom president Debjani Ghosh said.

Released on Tuesday, the report titled “The state of Responsible AI (RAI) in India 2023” also stated that large enterprises with annual revenue of over Rs 250 crore are 2.3 times more likely than startups and 1.5 times more likely than small and medium enterprises to report matured responsible AI practices. 

Moreover, according to the report developers are almost two times more likely than users to report higher levels of responsible AI maturity.

Responsible AI has quickly evolved from being a mere buzzword to a compelling business imperative, serving as a guiding principle and shaping the fabric of AI development and use, the report noted.

As per the survey findings, 89 per cent of businesses that reported matured responsible AI practices and policies in place also reported commitments to continue investments in workforce sensitisation and training for its compliance.

However, as responsible AI adoption continues to evolve, large scale implementation is dependent on the mitigation of various technical, commercial and regulatory challenges. The report cited a lack of access to high-quality data and shortage of skilled technical and management personnel as key bottlenecks.

Leadership support is crucial for successful adoption of the concept and 69% of the survey respondents suggested that the major share of accountability for compliance should lie with the C-suite, or the board of directors across companies.

The survey, conducted between October-November 2023, involved responses from 535 senior executives from large, small and medium enterprises, and startups engaged in the commercial development and use of discriminative and generative AI technologies.