CCI to Study AI Impact on Businesses: Tender Soon

Mumbai, Jan 25 (PTI) The Competition Commission will soon float a tender for conducting a study on the impact of artificial intelligence on businesses and services. its chief Ravneet Kaur said on Thursday.

The Chairperson of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) also emphasised that the regulator cannot take "one-size fits all" interventions in technological markets, which require nuanced assessments.

She was interacting with reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

"Shortly, we will be coming out with a tender seeking inputs from companies to carry out a market research for us so that we understand better how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can impact businesses as it offers services and also act as a platform," Kaur said.

She said that hopefully, the tender should open in about two weeks though the terms of reference of the proposed study are yet to be framed.

According to her, a management consultancy, an accountancy firm or a legal firm can take up the study.

In recent times, there has been an increasing use of AI applications in several sectors.

About data protection, Kaur said the CCI is looking at it from two angles, one is about personal data and the administrative ministry concerned has already come out with the required norms.

"Our interest is in looking at data protection from (the point of view of) data access, analysis, storage and finally its subsequent usage by third parties," she said and added that this is to check whether there are any anti-competitive practices.

"We have been, in fact, looking at this aspect very closely when it comes to big tech companies. We have taken action in the recent past wherein we have penalised them for breaches and have asked them (to take) remedial actions," Kaur said.

Regarding the recent amendments to the competition law, Kaur said the CCI will very shortly notify the sections pertaining to leniency plus regime, commitments and settlements framework in anti-trust matters, and mergers.

The process of public consultations is over and the sections will be notified in a phased manner, she added.

The recent amendments to the law are aimed at providing regulatory certainty and trust-based business environment.

The settlement and commitment framework will reduce litigations and expedite anti-trust enforcement process, enable quicker market corrections and foster a more efficient and less adversarial legal environment, she noted.