IIT Madras Sets Up Centre for Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CeRAI)

Chennai, India – The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has taken a proactive step toward addressing concerns about Artificial Intelligence (AI) by establishing the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI), an interdisciplinary research center aimed at ensuring the ethical and responsible development of AI-based solutions. CeRAI will prioritize high-quality research outputs such as publications published in reputable journals, conferences, and patents. It will also develop technical resources for Responsible AI, such as curated datasets, software, and toolkits. The Centre was formally inaugurated on April 27 by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India.

CeRAI intends to undertake specialized sensitization and training programs for stakeholders to improve their understanding of ethical and responsible AI, allowing them to contribute successfully in their particular fields. Furthermore the center is expected to also conduct workshops, conferences, and technical events concentrating on particular issues linked to deployable AI systems. It recently held its first workshop on ‘Responsible AI for India’ on May 15 to kick-start its objectives. Google has become the consortium’s first platinum member, donating US$1 million to support the center. Abhishek Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Digital India Corporation, underlined the importance of an unbiased and non-discriminatory AI framework tailored to India’s specific needs. As technology advances, the future of AI holds enormous promise. According to Statista, AI investments will reach a remarkable U$93.5 billion by 2021. Leveraging AI and other developing technologies such as machine learning can be critical in resolving not only technology obstacles but also a variety of societal issues.

A panel discussion on ‘Responsible AI for India’ during the event put light on the need of building such centers. Prof V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, stressed the importance of assigning responsibility to AI tools and interpreting their outputs while taking into account human augmentation, biased datasets, data security, and policy creation. Prof Balaraman Ravindran, Head, CeRAI, IIT Madras, emphasized the importance of AI models providing performance guarantees suited to specific applications, including data integrity, privacy, and robust decision-making. He also highlighted the importance of research in building assurance and risk models for AI systems across industries.

Image Source: IIT Madras