Jakarta, INTI - The biggest challenge in artificial intelligence (AI) governance today is no longer technological development, but rather how values and ethics can be translated into binding regulations.
Deputy Minister of Communication and Digital Affairs (Komdigi), Nezar Patria, emphasized that ethics lacks interactive power and therefore needs to be translated into regulations that include sanctions and penalties.
"So, the challenge in every discussion about ethics is to what extent these ethics can become the basis for developing regulations, because without legal force, they are useless. Ethics lack interactive power, but regulations do have sanctions and penalties," he explained in discussion with Globethics at Kemenkomdigi office in Central Jakarta, Wednesday, May 13.
According to him, not all companies consider ethics a crucial factor that needs to be mitigated. However, Nezar stated that concern for ethics is growing, as evidenced by technology companies recruiting humanities and philosophy graduates to help evaluate their products that come into contact with humans.
Companies are Starting to Mitigate Potential Risks
He also appreciated the efforts made by technology companies to mitigate potential ethical risks.
"Now ethical risk is a category within technology companies. Previously, it wasn't in their risk hierarchy. So, in my opinion, that's progress, that there's concern about ethics," he concluded.
He added that in the development of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), ethical aspects are considered a crucial component due to the potential value conflicts that can arise.
"Ethics is important because in AI developments, we will be dealing with very fundamental issues, especially conflicts of values, norms, and visions," said Nezar.
According to Deputy Minister Nezar, these value conflicts can arise because AI models developed in other countries may not align with the values held by Indonesian society.
"We know that AI, especially generative AI based on Large Language Models, is mostly developed by Western countries, so value conflicts are very likely to occur in data processing and decision-making by this AI," he explained.
Conclusion
Nezar Patria believes the biggest challenge in AI governance today lies not only in technological development, but in how values and ethics are translated into legally binding regulations accompanied with sanctions and penalties. Nezar noted that technology companies' awareness of ethical risks is growing, as they are starting to view the emergence of ethical risk and the impact of AI products. He also highlighted the potential for value conflicts, as many generative AI models and large language models were developed in Western countries and may not align with Indonesian values.
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