AI has become an increasingly important part of various discourses across different fields and in this context, Google, one of the largest global technology players and one of the leading innovators in the AI space, and Primus Partners, an India management consulting firm brought together 20 thought leaders from various disciplines for an interactive roundtable on “Responsible AI for Online ads” on 14 December, in Chennai. The discussion was helmed by key government representatives including Consumer Affairs Secretary Mr. Rohit Kumar Singh, and Former Law Secretary, Mr. P.K. Malhotra. The deliberation also saw the participation of lawyers and academicians including from the prestigious IIT Madras, Ashoka University, Trilegal, Samvad Partners, and Cyril Amarchand. Senior Retd. Judges, Former LEAs, Senior Advocates from Madras High Court, and representatives from Startup Tamil Nadu were also present. The diverse group of thought leaders held a detailed discussion on Responsible AI, with a focus on opportunities and challenges for India in the emergence of Artificial Intelligence and discussing possible approaches towards building the right model and unlocking India’s digital innovation.
Bringing in the government perspective, Mr. Rohit Kumar Singh, Secretary at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs spoke about the use of responsible AI from a consumption economy standpoint. He said, “We have to be agile in our approach. Self-regulation as seen in some other emerging sectors, is a way, with reasonable and responsible measures. A balance of regulation and innovation has to be a norm. Also, consumers have to be at the centre stage of the AI ecosystem.”
Vidhya Srinivasan, VP/GM at Google, was also present at the event, quoted shedding light on the current scenario, “We’ve long been using advances in Google Ads, like predictive AI, to help businesses reach consumers at the right time. What’s really exciting about new generative AI capabilities is that advertisers can use AI in a more tangible way to supplement campaign creation and idea generation, while remaining in the driver’s seat. While I’m optimistic about all this and the future, we are taking a thoughtful and responsible approach to how our ads products evolve with AI.”
Mr. Prem Kumar Malhotra, Former Law Secretary, presented his view on the discussion topic by stating, “If we look at the securities market, which is heavily regulated, many of the innovations in the space could not take flight. Something as nascent and evolving as AI, needs to have a self-regulatory start, before transitioning to a necessary regulation path. Its responsible application in sectors like online ads creates an important focus point for both consumers and tech innovators.”
Mr. Nilaya Varma, CEO and Co-founder of Primus Partners conveyed “AI has the potential to reshape the advertising industry while generating positives for the economy such as the creation of jobs, economic development, etc. The untapped potential of leveraging AI in online marketing requires to be unlocked, responsibly, which can further foster an environment for innovation and development in the country. This might initially require the regulatory authorities to create a framework, however, gradually evolving the framework with time and the needs of the industry, can help optimise the targeted outcomes. To carefully capture the potential of generative AI; Industry and the Government will be required to adopt a collaborative approach. The Indian government has been highly optimistic regarding the use of AI in processes and continues to support the digital landscape and related industries to sustain in the country. While innovation and service-providing capabilities can be captured from industries, a more industry-friendly framework focusing on sustainability will be expected from the government to foster innovation and leverage new technologies in India.”
With the growing understanding and complexity of buying patterns, AI is poised to become an integral part of the advertising segment. AI is now penetrating the said sector through various user interfaces like Google ad search engines and many more. The use of AI is intended to provide a better creative landscape for marketers to start their planning and strategy phases effectively, further moulding the generative AI response as per the needs of their campaign. The outlook of the use of AI is to provide marketers with basic auto-generated elements for their promotional campaigns with a background study of the targeted consumer’s buying behaviour/pattern over a specific time.
