RBI announces ‘FREE-AI’ committee to develop AI framework

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday announced the setting up of an eight member panel to develop the framework for responsible and ethical enablement of artificial intelligence. The committee called FREE-AI will be headed by Pushpak Bhattacharyya from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay. The committee, which will be supported by the RBI’s fintech department, will be required to submit its report within six months from the date of its first meeting.

The committee’s mandate will be to study the present level of AI adoption in financial services and review regulatory and supervisory approaches on AI with focus on the financial sector globally. The committee will also recommend a framework including governance aspects for responsible, ethical adoption of AI models for the financial sector. The committee will also have to identify potential risks associated with AI and recommend an evaluation, mitigation and monitoring framework for regulated entities.

Apart from IIT Bombay’s Bhattacharya, the committee also includes Suvendu Pati, CGM, RBI, Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Debjani Ghosh, independent director for Reserve Bank Innovation Hub, Dr. Balaraman Ravindran of IIT Madras, Rahul Matthan, Partner, Trilegal and Anjani Rathor, Chief Digital Officer, HDFC Bank among others.