ChatGPT and DALLE, artificial intelligence apps that can produce strikingly coherent text or images in response to brief prompts, have taken the world by storm since late last year. These apps, also known as generative AI (or generative computing), offer new business opportunities and ethical issues regarding privacy, property rights, and misinformation. A growing number of social entrepreneurs are using the new technology to address pressing social issues, with AI ethics at their center. Supriya Sankaran and Sachin Malhan, both social entrepreneurs from Bangalore, co-founded Agami in 2018. Hanae Baruchel, Ashoka’s assistant, met Sachin to get insights on the role of generative AI in democratizing justice in India.
Agami is an alliance of people and ideas that aims to improve the experience of Justice for Indians
Agami
Baruchel: Generative AI is generating so much buzz right now, it’s difficult not to be skeptical of some of its potential applications. You are so intrigued by its potential in India’s access to justice.
Malhan: India has more than 1.4 million people. Only 10% of them have access to justice. It’s too expensive for the average person. AI can help people understand their rights, what to do if they need a lawyer and what questions to ask. AI could be used to help individuals and lawyers determine if a property deed meets the required standard. It can reduce research time and clear up court dockets. It can result in a huge increase in access to justice for countries in South East Asia and Africa where there is a lot of underfunding.
We need to find public-minded innovators to create the AI for Justice middle layer, and entrepreneurs to develop solutions that benefit people from all walks. The majority of people working in this space will develop AI to assist large companies with litigation, manage documents, and otherwise serve the well-paid class. It is clear that we are about to witness an amazing wave of innovation. But, is it affordable? Are public benefits going to benefit from it?
Hanae Baruchel: What does this rapid development in generative AI mean for companies like yours?
Sachin Malhan says: The potential of AI for Justice in India is amazing. It took hundreds of hours to teach the computer how to recognize different data types and organize them. One example is OpenNyAI, which in Hindi means justice. We wanted the computer’s ability to recognize the appearance of a court judgement and highlight key facts to create summary judgments. We had to manually annotate 700-750 court records before the computer could begin to recognize patterns. This can be tedious, time-consuming and costly work. GPT, LaMDA, and other sophisticated language models allow you to dump as many as 500,000 judgments, or even millions, at once, and the system would perform the annotation practically automatically, “unsupervised.”
Baruchel, You already incorporate generative AI in your work. Could you give us an example?
Malhan: Yes. We are currently in Jugalbandi pilot, where we train ChatGPT to answer any questions pertaining to Indian government entitlements, such as eligibility for affordable housing schemes. We are submitting the information about the government schemes – the clauses and eligibility criteria. ChatGPT overlays the information to make it more understandable and accurate.
Baruchel: Is that what you mean? You could use your app to say “I’m in Bombay.” Could you please help me?
Malhan: Yes, exactly. And the system will ask you: “What type of support are your looking for?” You might answer “Yes, housing is an option.” But it will ask you questions like “How old do you think you are?” Are you a homeowner? Are you a parent?
It doesn’t matter if you are semi-literate (or illiterate) in your local language. We integrate Bhashini ULCA, which is an open-source data project that enables voice translation and voice recognition from a dozen Indian languages to one another. ChatGPT would be able to answer my questions in Hindi or Bengali, and I could also send it a voice message in my language. A remote village in India will now be able to instantly ask questions and receive answers about any government entitlements that might be available. This could be a game-changer, as most research has shown that people are unable to access essential services at the last mile because they don’t know how to use them.
Baruchel: What are the risks of using AI in high-stakes situations? We’re referring to the most vulnerable members of society when we talk about social welfare and government entitlements.
Malhan: The world is moving at such a rapid pace that this is a legitimate concern. People don’t take the time to think about privacy and fair use. It is important that we build the middle layer of AI applications in a collaborative, open-source effort. These tools will be built regardless of whether we do it. However, if we can build it in a collaborative effort with a diverse group of people who are impact-oriented and can offer perspectives about the things to look out for, we’ll be better equipped to avoid unintended consequences.
Baruchel: What’s missing to make this technology more accessible?
Malhan: It is important to create spaces for entrepreneurs, innovators, and academics interested in better AI and better AI apps. We are working in India with many technologists, grassroot organisations, and lawyers to identify issues and create an AI for Justice middle layer that is accessible for all. To develop parameters for conversational AI privacy rules and conversational AI bias, we need to create a global Justice AI ecosystem of entrepreneurs. We don’t have the time to plan for these problems because things are happening so quickly. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman answered the question “What do we think we are not talking about?” with a surprise answer: “Universal Basic Income.”
Follow Agami on Twitter for more information.
This conversation is part a series on what works and what’s next for Tech & Humanity, and Law for All.
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By: Ashoka, Contributor
Title: Can ChatGPT Revolutionize Access To Justice In India?
Sourced From: www.forbes.com/sites/ashoka/2023/02/14/can-chatgpt-revolutionize-access-to-justice-in-india/
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