J-PAL: Measure impact, not engagement with Al rollout

J-PAL's Iqbal Dhaliwal warns govts against scaling untested Al, saying engagement metrics mislead, risk harm and inequality, urging evidence-based pilots and human-centric deployment

- Binayak Dasgupta

Deploying AI for the people must cut through the hype so that “dashboard success” does not become “welfare failure,” the head of one of the world’s foremost economic research bodies has said, warning that scaling unproven artificial intelligence solutions can cause active harm — not just waste money.

As policymakers, researchers and tech leaders gather for “AI for Social Good” discussions on the second day of the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Tuesday, Iqbal Dhaliwal, global executive director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), said the current obsession with app downloads and chat logs threatens to obscure the ultimate goal: improving human lives. Worse, it risks entrenching inequality, eroding public trust in technology, and displacing critical human judgment.

“Engagement is important... but those are necessary conditions — they are not sufficient conditions,” Dhaliwal told HT on Monday. “The sufficient condition has not changed... [itis] impact.”

J-PAL on Tuesday launched the AI Evidence Playbook —a manual to guide government officials on deploying AI responsibly. The compendium distils lessons from global research to align Al adoption with rigorous evidence.

Dhaliwal's caution is rooted in what he calls the “engagement trap” — where high usage metrics mask failure to deliver real-world benefits. He cited a WhatsApp-based AI chatbot for Kenyan entrepreneurs that saw massive engagement, with 85% of users interacting with it.

“Great engagement... but profits or revenue did not seem to go up,” Dhaliwal noted. “Knowing people are chatting with a bot... doesn't demonstrate impacts on real-world outcomes.”