IIT Madras Establishes Centre For Responsible AI
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) has recently established the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI), which is an interdisciplinary research center aimed at ensuring the ethical and responsible development of AI-based solutions in the real world. The center seeks to become a premier research hub at the national and international level for both fundamental and applied research in responsible AI with immediate impact in deploying AI systems in the Indian ecosystem. Google has contributed a sum of US$1 million as the first platinum consortium member for this center. The CeRAI conducted its first workshop on "Responsible AI for India" on May 15, 2023, after being formally inaugurated on April 27, 2023, by Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Hon'ble Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India.
The CeRAI aims to produce high-quality research outputs, such as publishing research articles in high-impact journals/conferences, white papers, and patents, among others. It will also work towards creating technical resources such as curated datasets (universal as well as India-specific), software, toolkits, etc., with respect to the domain of Responsible AI. The center also aims to foster various partnerships and collaborations with government organizations, academic institutions, and industries to ensure responsible AI practices. The CeRAI is actively engaged with various organizations such as NASSCOM, Vidhi Legal, CMC Vellore, SICCI, TIE, and RIS to achieve this goal.
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, highlighted the need for such centers and emphasized the importance of building trust around AI while ensuring privacy and interpretability. Prof. Balaraman Ravindran, Head, Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI), IIT Madras, emphasized the importance of making AI models and their predictions explainable and interpretable when deployed in critical sectors such as Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Banking/Finance, among others. The CeRAI will provide sector-specific recommendations and guidelines for policymakers and stakeholders, as well as necessary toolkits for ensuring ethical and responsible management and monitoring of AI systems. The center also plans to conduct specialized sensitization/training programs for all stakeholders to appreciate the issues of ethical and responsible AI in a better manner and to hold technical events in the form of workshops and conferences on specialized themes of deployable AI systems with a strong focus on ethics and responsibility principles.