Artificial Intelligence is often presented as a solution to social, economic, environmental, and political problems. Within India, AI has gained significant traction with the government promoting its development and adoption in various sectors such as healthcare, education, urban development, governance, agriculture and transportation to boost the economy. This comes with its own set of issues where different layers of power intersect with its development, planning and implementation. While AI, like any technology, has the potential to democratise access to knowledge and ease human labour, this process itself must be more participatory and inclusive. For example, reviews have shown that algorithms are more likely to mark areas with higher Muslim and Dalit populations as unsafe and dodgy, which has resulted in over-policing in these areas. There has also been an increase in the use of AI for welfare automation, however, most of this technology is used for risk modelling and fraud detection. This has resulted in the identification of false positive cases, leading to exclusion and denial of welfare for genuine individuals. Artificial intelligence is being used as a quick solution to fix governance issues. 

One of the reasons why these technologies are having an adverse effect on the communities is because they are not involved as a stakeholder in these conversations. They are often relegated to a passive role while the producer’s design, develop, and produce AI and machine learning tools. Similarly, communities are on the passive and receiving end of the policies that are designed to govern their data and lack agency in deciding what data gets collected and how it gets used. As a result, it becomes difficult to hold ‘objective’ algorithms accountable when they show bias or discrimination in their technology and the error is often shifted. To reflect on these issues, Digital Empowerment Foundation, in partnership with the Centre for Development Policy and Practice and the Government of Telangana will be hosting 6th Digital Citizen Summit on the theme of Algorithms, AI, and Accountability. 

DCS 2024 will address the following questions: 

• How can the citizens participate in building AI accountability?  

• Who is to be held accountable for the bias shown by AI?  

• What should be the role of regulatory bodies in AI governance?  

• How is AI and algorithms enabling the exclusion of communities and individuals?