IGF 2024 WS #203 Empowering Global South: AI Governance Framework in FinTech

    Organizer 1: Sameer Gahlot, Vidyasthali Law College
    Organizer 2: Phyo Thiri Lwin, DotAsia Organisation

    Speaker 1: Saba Tiku Beyene, Intergovernmental Organization, African Group
    Speaker 2: Gareth Tan, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group
    Speaker 3: NAING YE, Private Sector, Asia-Pacific Group

    Moderator

    Sameer Gahlot, Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group

    Online Moderator

    Phyo Thiri Lwin, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group

    Rapporteur

    Phyo Thiri Lwin, Technical Community, Asia-Pacific Group

    Format

    Roundtable
    Duration (minutes): 90
    Format description: The session will adopt an interactive and hybrid format to encourage a continuous discussion between the participants and the speakers. With a 90-minute timeframe allotted for the discussion, each speaker will have sufficient opportunity to discuss their views on focus areas, its associated risks, trends, and economic impacts. Participants will actively engage by exchanging insights, opinions, and questions with the speakers, enriching the discourse.

    Policy Question(s)

    - How can we ensure that AI development and its deployment in the Global South prioritize ethical considerations while mitigating potential biases and discriminatory outcomes?
    - What strategies can be implemented to bridge the gap in AI education and awareness in the Global South?
    - How can international collaboration be fostered to facilitate the exchange of best practices and resources for responsible AI development in the Global South?
    - What policies and regulatory frameworks are needed to promote transparency, accountability, and fairness in AI systems, taking into account the diverse socio-economic and cultural contexts of the Global South?

    What will participants gain from attending this session? By attending this session, the participants will gain a deeper understanding related to evolution of AI while providing insights from three perspectives i.e. issues based discussion from Global North to Global South experts, collaboratively focusing on potential solutions, and focusing on the evolution of AI including deliberating on its way forward.

    Description:

    Digital inclusion, in the 21st century, is a concept which operates under the guise of Industry 4.0., it not only improves processes, productivity, cost optimization, quality of product being offered but it also eases the living while reducing the burden economically, socially, strategically, environmentally and operationally to become resilient, better, faster, cheaper, inclusive, accessible and sustainable. The concept of financial inclusion has evolved from door-step banking and banking correspondences to the use of the Information & Communication Technology (ICT). Among all the development(s) which further the cause of digital inclusion, UPI has been a game changer for India’s digital payment ecosystem which has helped to drive financial inclusion by bringing millions of unbanked individuals into the formal financial system. With over 10 billion transactions a month, the UPI has become the backbone of digital payments which has helped to catalyse a wave of innovations in the FinTech sector. Recent trends indicate that regulators are concentrating on consolidating different enactments in the form of codes instead of separate and piecemeal laws to control the regulatory cholesterol and promoting digital technologies, thereby nurturing competitiveness in the market. The sustainable growth of the FinTech sector is directly linked with the growth rate of financial education and literacy of the population in a country. A critical gap still prevails between literate population and financial literate population which need to be bridged down with the help of introducing financial literacy courses in the education curriculum. Alongside financial literacy, a robust mechanism should also be there to redress the grievances in a time-bound manner to instill people’s confidence to create an equitable and inclusive environment. This panel discussion aims to provide a multi-stakeholders potential solution focused-discussion upon the Global South’s AI responsible framework with specific focus on the FinTech sector.

    Expected Outcomes

    The expected outcome(s) is to provide insights about establishing robust regulatory frameworks tailored to diverse contexts, and empowerment of stakeholders in the Global South to participate in AI governance. These outcomes collectively aim to ensure responsible AI development and its deployment, fostering equitable access to AI benefits and mitigating potential risks and biases, while preparing future generations to navigate the evolving landscape of AI technologies responsibly and ethically.

    Hybrid Format: The said panel discussion is curated, designed and to be implemented in such a way which will provide an immersive experience not only to onsite participants and speakers but also to those attending online. To ensure its effective implementation, we envisage to place 2 speaker(s) each onsite and online with an onsite as well as online moderator proactively addressing the concerns of the online speaker and participant thereby bridging the gap. Such an engagement tends to create an inclusive and participatory environment, thereby promoting dialogue, collaboration, and understanding among different actors in a coordinated manner.