AI reshaping telecom operations, raises transparency and accountability concerns: Trai chair

New Delhi: Artificial intelligence and telecom infrastructure have become increasingly vital to each other, but concerns remain around the functioning of AI-based systems and their potential impact on millions of users, Trai Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Trai–STPI Pre-Summit Event on ‘AI in Telecommunications’, Lahoti said telecom networks act as the primary carriers of AI, while AI adds an intelligent layer to telecom operations.

He noted that telecom service providers are making growing use of AI for network planning, optimising network operations, predicting maintenance needs and improving consumer experience, including efforts to combat fraud, detect spam and automate complex workflows.

“At the same time, we must acknowledge that AI-based systems raise certain concerns. Automated decisions based on AI systems may impact millions of users. Therefore, making transparency, accountability and human oversight indispensable when we deal with the use of AI,” Lahoti said.

According to Lahoti, AI systems deployed by telecom service providers are currently detecting and, along with blockchain technology, blocking nearly 400 million voice calls or messages each day.

He added that the roll-out of 5G, rapid growth in data consumption, expansion of the Internet of Things, and early developments around 6G have made telecom networks highly complex and dynamic. Managing this scale through conventional approaches, he said, is becoming increasingly difficult.

“Artificial intelligence has therefore emerged not merely as an efficiency tool but as a foundational capability also. Artificial intelligence is therefore reshaping the telecommunication sector and especially in India where we have more than 1.2 billion telecom subscribers and around 1 billion data users,” Lahoti said.

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) director general S P Kochhar said AI needs to be developed at a scale that benefits the wider population, particularly in rural areas through voice-based services.

“We have to build trust. Only then the benefits of AI will flow and be acceptable to the masses. Managing discussions on data ownership, which were earlier on the marginal sidelines, will now come on centre stage. Discussions on data ownership, privacy, bias, transparency, accountability, now move to centre stage,” Kochhar said.

He also flagged concerns around the pricing of AI technologies, as well as risks linked to privacy and security.

“TRAI, your consultative and principle-based approach strikes a right balance between innovation and safeguard. We need adaptive frameworks and those frameworks must focus on transparency, security, privacy, protection, and accountability,” Kochhar said.

However, he added that while discussions around such frameworks have begun, implementing them on the ground will require extensive deliberation.

“We require clarity and consistency in policies and regulations, and that is what will attract investments and innovation in India. If it is not accompanied by clarity and consistency, both in policies and regulation, it will not attract the intervention of investors. That is extremely essential, and that is where we have to work overtime,” Kochhar said.

He further underlined the need for investment in skilled manpower.

“Now while our numbers may show we are number one in skilled manpower, we really are not. I am sorry, I am making this bold statement. I have spent six years in the skilled ecosystem. The type of people we are skilling are blue-collar workers, and they are also not in consonance with the industry requirements. There has to be a revamp of the system. We have to skill people, we have to re-skill them, and we have to up-skill them,” Kochhar said.

IndiaAI chief operating officer Kavita Bhatia said several working groups are consolidating inputs from pre-IndiaAI Impact Summit events, which will feed into the declaration document for the IndiaAI Impact Summit scheduled in Delhi on February 19–20.

“We already have 25 working group meetings which we have concluded yesterday, the pre-summit events inputs will also be taken up by the committees and they will finalize their declaration document which will be leading up to the main declaration document,” she said.

Bhatia added that the initiative had exceeded its initial outreach expectations.

“There was a target to have over 300 pre-AI impact summit events for wider public participation, and till date the number of such events have already crossed 350 and 157 more pre-summit events will be held till February 7,” she said, adding that around 2.2 lakh people have already participated.

“We are expecting 15 plus country heads, 100 plus countries' participation (in the IndiaAI Impact Summit). As of today, we have confirmation from 12 countries, and we are hoping around 7 to 8 more heads of countries will participate in the summit. 50 plus global leaders will be participating (in the summit),” Bhatia said.