Ethics: October 2024 UPSC Current Affairs | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

Ethical Considerations in AI-driven Access to Information

What in News?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is recognized as a powerful tool that makes it easier for people to access, understand, and share information.
However, there are ongoing concerns about issues like bias, transparency, and responsibility.

About Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI is technology that allows computers and machines to mimic human abilities like learning, understanding, problem-solving, decision-making, creativity, and independence.
• This technology has developed over many years due to improvements in data processing and machine learning.
• AI has many uses, such as translation tools, chatbots, content filtering, and censorship.

Transformative Potential of AI

• Democratizing Information: AI helps overcome past barriers to information caused by geography, language, and literacy.
• Access to Healthcare Information: AI tools, like a signing avatar and the digital health worker Florence, improved access to healthcare during the pandemic.
• S.A.R.A.H. Launch: This AI-powered digital health promoter assists users in understanding health risks and making informed choices.
• Access to Education: Platforms such as Khan Academy and Byju’s use AI to customize education for individual learners.
• Coursera has translated its courses into Hindi, making them more accessible.
• Language Proficiency: Programs like EBS’s AI-Pengtalk have helped students in Korea improve their English skills.
• Access to Government Services: The chatbot Jugalbandi, developed by Microsoft and AI4Bharat, offers information about government services in 10 Indian languages.
• Enhanced Information Discovery: The National Digital Library, launched in 2019, provides access to millions of digital resources with AI capabilities.
• Mission Bhashini: This initiative aims to create a technology ecosystem for Indian languages to ensure multilingual access to digital services.

Ethical Challenges in AI Development

• While AI is seen as a great equalizer with applications in translation, chatbots, and content filtering, it also raises important concerns, such as:
• Algorithmic Bias: AI can reflect or worsen biases that exist in the data it learns from, which can lead to unequal access to information.
• Privacy Concerns: AI systems depend on personal data, which raises questions about misuse and unauthorized access.
• Accountability: It is often unclear who is responsible when AI systems fail, making accountability complicated.
• Transparency and Explainability: Many AI systems function like a “black box,” making it hard for users to understand how decisions are made.

Conclusion

• AI can greatly improve how people find and use information.
• However, these benefits come with ethical challenges that need to be addressed to ensure AI systems promote universal access to information.
• Importance should be placed on inclusivity, transparency, privacy, and accountability at every stage of AI development and deployment to create a fair and trustworthy information environment for everyone.
• By focusing on ethical AI practices, we can unlock its full potential as a means for universal information access.