Panel Discussion II : Ready to Secure Your AI Transformation?

The second panel discussion  -  “Ready to Secure Your AI Transformation?” was moderated by S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA, and it featured Bharat B Anand, Group Chief Information & Technology Officer, Contec Global Ltd.; Anandaday Misshra, Founder & Managing Partner, AMLEGALS; Pankaj Mittal, Founder & CEO, Digizen Consulting; and Chetandeep S Batra, Senior Security Consultant, EY Global Consulting Services as the panelists.

Speaking on the aspects that one should consider while planning AI lifecycles, Pankaj Mittal, Founder & CEO, Digizen Consulting said that one should be very clear about one’s business goals, and the outcome that one is looking at while dealing with AI. “You have to first analyze whether your infrastructure is matured enough to run data lifecycles and data pipelines. That's the primary aspect of how you should handle AI. We have to look at what are the risks we are anticipating, both internally and externally. AI should be assisting you, you should not be assisting the AI. For governments, this has to be a continuous learning of what data is going in, what data is going out, and what data cartridges one is building up. AI can only learn from the data you provide. Misuse or incorrect configurations can turn innovation into a liability.”

L to R: Bharat B Anand, Group Chief Information & Technology Officer, Contec Global Ltd.; S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA; Pankaj Mittal, Founder & CEO, Digizen Consulting; Anandaday Misshra, Founder & Managing Partner, AMLEGALS and Chetandeep S Batra, Senior Security Consultant, EY Global Consulting Services

On how companies are adopting generative AI and autonomous systems, Bharat B Anand, Group Chief Information & Technology Officer, Contec Global Ltd. said that AI is no longer science fiction or sci-fi anymore. “AI is experiencing unprecedented hype today, largely amplified by mainstream media and social media platforms—an ecosystem that did not exist in the 1990s. As a result, the Internet, despite being transformative in its time, did not witness the same level of widespread hype or rapid public amplification. AI is not a concept of future technology as it is already happening as we see it. Our choices are being influenced by AI today. But most of us are asking a simple question - are we doing enough with AI in the organization? And all these questions will be directed to the CIO or CISO. So besides governance, I think AI readiness is another aspect which is very paramount to any business today. Availability of talent is another thing, as well as the availability of clean data to train your models is another. AI is not somebody which will just define your choices, but it will also help you scale. But irrespective of the fact of whether we consider AI to be a boon or a bane, what I would say that if you love your data and your organization, then it is advisable to have the proper guardrails in place.”

On the security risks associated with AI, Anandaday Misshra, Founder & Managing Partner, AMLEGALS stated that companies should look at how to control AI besides only looking at its capability. “Before we say AI is risky, we should consider that this time is really very risky. Everybody is in the AI race now. We all are willing to be an AI native. As rightly pointed out in the boardrooms, we are always talking about what we are doing in AI or while our competition has added the flavor of AI in their product, what about us. So these kinds of frustrations are there and will be there. Having said that, people are only looking at the capability, rather than control. If you look at the holistic parameter, AI of course is not a bookish thing. The bedrock for AI or data privacy is techno– legal and the commercial angle comes with it. So ultimately, if we talk about the risk, you have to particularly see more on the control side, rather than only on the capability. In my view, an AI model—much like an ordinary human being—tends to make assumptions, largely because it operates within a set of defined parameters and surrounding variables that shape its outputs. I understand that everything has a two side. It's all about the journey of human intelligence to artificial intelligence.”

Chetandeep S Batra, Senior Security Consultant, EY Global Consulting Services suggested that AI should be a balance between innovation, and control. “It is up to you how you are using AI. Today there are many AI tools available, and you must understand what data you are using to get the results from the AI. Your data should not fall into wrong hands. We still know whether AI is a boon or a bane. But it is up to you to determine what you want out of it and what is your purpose for using that particular AI. Nowadays, deepfakes are getting saturated with all the available public data, and things are getting manipulated. We should understand the ethical compliance, the ethical strategy and ethical use and transparency of how the AI is responding. You must give them a defined picture to run the data sets and try managing them internally.”