Current Scenario
The current escalating geo-tech-politics between the US and EU on the existing EU digital laws cramping the enormous freedom hitherto enjoyed by the big technology companies from the US is a development in the right direction. As per Reuters report, “U.S. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan on Sunday demanded EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera clarify how she enforces the European Union’s rules reining in Big Tech, saying they appear to target U.S. companies”. The warning issued by the Trump Administration says that they will scrutinize the EU Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act “that dictate how American companies interact with consumers in the European Union”.
The mandatory need for AI customization
The freedom of nations and blocs to align technology development and deployment by vendors in their own markets in the way their governments and people prefer is their right. This ushers in the need for vendors to adapt by customisation of their products in accordance with associated regional regulatory laws and people/societal preferences.
Customers in the EU are citizens of the EU first and foremost. They are customers of the US companies only after that. It is a flawed assumption that being customers of US companies implies that US government or the companies themselves have the right to decide how customers should be served. The EU citizens have the freedom to choose the way they would like to live and use AI technologies in their work and personal lives. These have been cast into laws regulating the technology by their elected representatives. Foreign companies operating on a nation’s soil should respect local laws. Trade and commerce are facilitated in an equitable, non-destructive and conducive environment only when they adhere to these laws.
In the past many decades, top software companies were willing to install fully customised ERP products to meet the industrial needs of customers. They employed an army of ERP consultants to study “as-is” and “to-be” requirements, gap analysis and customization needs. They were willing to customise the ERP product for the industrial processes of customer companies.
Where AI is concerned the customers are people and society for the most part. Today AI determines human processes affecting people like you, they are personal, cultural and societal. The AI customization needs for people, society and planet are therefore mandatory. This need must not be trivialized. People and society have been promised certain commitments through the constitutions of nations. Therefore, in the case of AI, the government also becomes an extended customer (in addition to regulator) as it frames regulations for AI. Constitutional guarantees, justice systems, civil codes, and religions vary across nations. The one size fits all AI as we have now will not work.
It is indeed regrettable that the practice of understanding AI customer’s needs during the process of selling software to customers has faded in the AI age. The openness of the Internet gives free access to the latest AI systems to people and companies oblige by giving them free accounts. People are hooked by the hype and novelty of AI. Their gullibility and lack of knowledge are trumped by their enthusiasm for novelty. In such a scenario, it is the duty of governments to protect them due to constitutional guarantees and AI being a “knowledge” product affecting people’s daily lives. In fact, the power of the customer vis-à-vis the software vendor has been waning significantly during the age of AI as my August 2024 article on the subject discusses.
Human Centric AI
There is no reason why AI technology should not adapt itself to meet the needs of citizens of nations. That is precisely why we need “Human Centric AI”, a path for AI that this author has been advocating for since early 2022. The coffers of these US technology companies are flush with cash flows that can be used to develop specific tailored human-centric AI applications for the different needs of nations. It is unwise, inadvisable and counterproductive to force fit a single model of AI which may be good for the US on diverse cultures, needs and ethnicities of the world’s nations. Diversity should be embraced by vendors, and customised solutions which are acceptable to customers and governments implemented. The analysis framework and software engineering processes to achieve human centricity are covered in detail in my book “Applied Human Centric AI” published in March 2024.
And what better way than Human Centric AI to bring AI laws specific to nations and blocs which support the cultural, social and ethical needs and preferences of their own people? So, let there be legal proceedings, negotiations, commercial tariffs, penalties and banning as each case may bring about. No company should demand a single inflexible version of their AI product functioning across the globe when it comes to technologies like AI which affect the core of living, breathing intelligent human beings, the society and our planet. Nor should any government dictate, what should be regulated or not to another. This is a free world. The greatest gifts that the people of nations possess is liberty, equality and fraternity.
Conclusion
The likely outcome of current market challenges for AI could force big technology companies to re-think their AI product development plans to customize AI systems to cater for cultural and social diversities of nations for entering their markets. Their progress will be slowed down and AI’s stampeding growth will be checked. This is precisely what the world needs, to give breathing space to nations to consider and weigh the whirlwind changes wrought by AI in a logical, in depth, humane and consensual manner. Such a development will allow appropriate people, society and planetary safeguards and customizations to be built into AI systems globally. When this happens, Human Centric AI will be born. That will indeed be a happy day!
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this website are personal opinions and futuristic thoughts of the authors in their genuine quest for designing AI systems in a Human-Centric and Explainable manner. No comment or opinion expressed in this website is made with any intent to discredit, malign, cause damage, loss to or criticize or in any other way disadvantage any person, company, governments or global and regional agencies.