Latin American governments must regulate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as soon as possible, as a way to boost its benefits and curb the great risks that their people could face due to its use in unethical activities. More and more people and companies are exposed to losing the privacy of their data, receiving digital manipulation attacks and reducing their working conditions, among other inconveniences, due to incorrect use of technology.
This week, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina raised their alarms about the imminent use of techniques such as ‘deep fake‘ -which uses AI to digitally ‘imitate’ the candidates’ voices- in the creation of smear campaigns in their electoral processes. A problem that is combined with the widespread and illegal use of citizen databases to manipulate their opinion, with fake news and malicious content.
Regulate Artificial Intelligence in business?
Companies are also no strangers to the challenges posed by this technology. Once AI is fully calibrated with an organization’s infrastructure, it allows it to have solid protection against cyberattacks and boost sales quickly, for example. However, to get to that point, the platform must access millions of user data, especially during their training, which can be invasive.
According to a global survey conducted by Zoho, 81% of workers have concerns about the way these technologies expose their private data, while 49% express fear about the management of their data and privacy. Of course, 84% believe that AI will be accepted and used in the workplace within the next year.
And the government?
AI is evolving at such a rapid pace that it is impossible for slow-moving governments and regulators to keep pace. According to the Enterprise Risk Director Perspectives report, 43% of respondents believe it is necessary to slow AI development while regulations catch up, and 90% believe regulations should be accelerated.
We are at a turning point in which governments are called to design regulations that promote the development of Artificial Intelligence, in accordance with the needs of their communities, that reduce risks and set ethical limits for its use.
Protecting data privacy will always be the basis for regulating this technology anywhere on the planet. The measures must establish clear limits on organizations to collect, store, share and use information with this technology, while creating mechanisms so that citizens have full control over their own data.
Between ‘fake news’ and manipulation campaigns
Regulation related to Artificial Intelligence must also clearly condemn illegal activities that may be carried out with its use. Here it is key to consider standards to warn and condemn their use in this type of activities, which range from fraud to creating misleading content, such as ‘fake news’ and manipulation campaigns.
To complete, governments must also create a legal framework that facilitates its use by organizations of all sizes and economic sectors. It is key that the Law does not stimulate the creation of monopolies by providers of technological solutions, which only serve to make services more expensive and restrict them to a few.
Countries that advance
Some countries are already moving in the right direction. The Chilean congress, for example, is studying a bill to regulate Artificial Intelligence systems, which defines the various risks and proposes some actions. For its part, Argentina has already approved several Recommendations for its use in the public sector, focused on the ethical aspects of its use.
This is a long path that we have only just begun to walk. All parts of society are called to understand the great opportunities that Artificial Intelligence provides, so that they are also ready to mitigate the risks of its misuse.
Carla Garcia Carla García has more than 16 years of sales experience, of which eight have been at Zoho. She began her career in the company as an Account Manager in 2015 and for more than five years she has served as Director of Business Development and Sales for Latin America at Zoho.