Cross-Border Data FlowsFundamental For AI Growth In India

India currently is at crossroads in terms of taking the next step towards making the country realise the benefits of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. The NITI Aayog paper rightly identified AI as an important tool to meet India’s development agenda. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the concept used to describe computer systems that are able to learn from their own experiences and solve complex problems in different situations – abilities we previously thought were unique to mankind. And it is data, in many cases personal data, that fuels these systems, enabling them to learn and become intelligent.
The findings of the paper suggest that privacy can complement innovation in AI along with the fact that cross-border flow of data is imperative to drive AI growth in the future. Every day, large amounts of data flow course through the internet, over borders to power
technologies that is leveraged for AI development and deployment. This data may originate from many sources located in multiple jurisdictions, making it imperative that data can move freely across borders. At the same time, with rising data collection and storage, doctrinal notions around ‘consent’ and ‘privacy notices’ should be considered. Privacy by design techniques can be incorporated at the level of privacy notices but also at each level of information flow till its storage and processing stage.

ABOUT CONFERENCE
The discussion in the conference revolved around the value of data for AI, importance for cross-border data flows, the ethical, legal and privacy aspects around AI deployment and a policy framework going forward. The discussions from the conference will be inputted towards the completion of the working paper for final publication in January.

The conference was divided into following sub-themes:
● Value of Data to AI and Innovation
● Cross-Border Data Flow fundamental to AI growth
● Ethical and Legal Challenges around AI Deployment
● Policy Framework to Facilitate AI’s Success – Restrictive Vs. Expansive