Facebook Selects Six Indian Projects For AI Ethics Research

To encourage research in artificial intelligence ethics, social media giant Facebook announced the selection of six projects from India that will focus on three key areas — governance, cultural diversity and operationalising ethics. AI technological developments pose intricate and complex ethical questions that the industry alone cannot answer, and that is why research questions in the application of AI should be addressed by independent academic research institutions along with the companies building and deploying the technology. To support these beliefs, Facebook had announced the Ethics in AI research awards in June with a regional focus of India. The RFP was open to academic institutions, think tanks, and research organizations registered and operational in India. Applicants were asked to submit proposals that took into consideration the following themes:

• Operationalizing Ethics / Explainability / Fairness
• Governance
• Cultural Diversity

After an internal review, the shortlisted candidates were sent to an external review board consisting of Professor Sudeshna Sarkar (IIT Kharagpur), Sunil Abraham (CIS), and Bharath Visweswariah (Omidyar Network). This review board selected the top two submissions in each category; these are listed below, under each of their topics.

Research Award Winners

Operationalizing Ethics / Explainability / Fairness Patient-Centric Frameworks for the Evaluation of AI-Enabled Medical Tests PI: Amit Sethi, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) Collaborators: Swapnil Rane and Zakia Khan, Tata Memorial Centre Targeted Bias in Indian Media Outlets PI: Animesh Mukherjee, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) Collaborators: Pawan Goyal and Souvic Chakraborty, IIT Kharagpur Governance Ethical Implications of Delegating Decision-making Journey to AI Systems PI: Dr Rahul De’, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM Bangalore) Collaborator: Sai Dattathrani, IIM Bangalore A ‘Public Law of Information’ for India PI: Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Centre for Law and Policy Research Cultural Diversity Mitigating Bias in Face Recognition for Vast Regional Diversity in India PI: Richa Singh, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology-Delhi (IIT-Delhi) Collaborator: Mayank Vatsa, IIIT-Delhi Regulatory Impact Assessment of the National AI Market Place of India PI: Varadharajan Sridhar, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIT Bangalore) Collaborator: Shrisha Rao, IIIT Bangalore