'AI can turn data blind spots into false certainty'

The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in official statistics carries the risk of models faithfully reproducing biases and gaps in their training data and could "lend false confidence" to the very blind spots that the system intends to remove, cautioned Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister PKMishra on Monday.

- HIMANSHI BHARDWAJ

He said these were "not reasons for hesitation" but reasons for adopting a more rigorous approach towards data.

Speaking at the 20th Statistics Day celebrations, Mishra said the incorporation of AI was among the frontiers that analytical institutions must pursue.

However, the commitment to Al-driven datasets by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation also warranted a closer examination of the hard questions it raises.

"If a figure is imputed or nowcast by a model, can the statistical system audit it, explain it, and own it as it owns a survey result?" he asked, adding that a model "learns only from the data it is given, and it will faithfully reproduce whatever biases and gaps that it contains".