“Intelligence” is recognized as the core element or skill of humans which makes the difference among other species and Human beings. With proper, dynamic and unique application of Intelligence, Humankind is ruling the world. With the help of science and technology, man has created a separate yet similar type of intelligence called “Artificial Intelligence” or AI in short.

This technology is so fast growing and owns such endless possibilities that the whole world is now embracing AI in personal and business fields. Of course, Bangladesh is also welcoming AI.

But as a developing country with most of the people still unaware of digital services, the specialists are concerned about the future of AI in Bangladesh. Will AI be used as assistance to the development or waste our youth, will it pose a threat to our security, will it increase crimes or help the reduction of nuisance? And many more questions are peeping in our head.

Among all the questions or concerns one very important question is regarding our present legal system’s capacity of controlling AI related policies.

Here are my take on legal position of AI and current policies regulating AI issues in Bangladesh.

Artificial Intelligence as part of Jurisprudence

Our modern day technology abolishes the traditional ideas of ownership, property, Contractual obligation, dual personality, rationality standard and many more fields.  It creates new digital objects like crypto currency, virtual property, robotic devices etc. and it is obvious that more new and dynamic objects will be added to this list.

With these changes, AI should be given some serious thought regarding it’s position in jurisprudence. AI still is technologically not so much advanced to be considered as a legal entity, but its current progress shows promise of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which may alter legal understanding of “legal entity”.

In respect to addressing technological changes to other sector, we usuall play catch up game. Once there are significant legal paradigm changes around the world, our legal system may also adapt accordingly to stay concurrent.

What Laws may impact AI in Bangladesh?

In Bangladesh we have the ICT Act 2006 with it’s amendments. The technology related topics are included in this act. But  “AI” is not mere technology, it’s a whole new paradigm in human civilization. So the legal framework needed complete regulations covering AI issues and we got the Artificial Intelligence policy 2024.

Though it is not an enacted law yet, but the ICT Ministry has declared to enact the AI Law within this year in light of the AI policy 2024.

The core features of AI policy 2024

As a policy, it provides guidelines showing the possible system for governance, adoption, development and utilization of AI applications. 

The policy puts it’s priority in education, public service, healthcare, transportation, telecommunication, environment, finance, manufacturing sector, agriculture etc.

It indicates the establishment of an independent National Artificial Intelligence Center for Excellence ( NAICE)  under the guidance of a proposed national AI Advisory Council. This center is aimed to collaborate with the ICT Division, relevant ministries, academic sector, industries and civil society to take necessary steps to introduce an institutional framework for implementing AI policy.

Lackings of AI Policy 2024

Though the Artificial Intelligence policy has outlined many policies to regulate AI related issues, it has some lacking. Some more fields should have been given attention such as monitoring and managing inter and intra state cybercrimes and AI generated crime scenarios.

The policy does not say anything about skilled workforce for AI management. AI requires very skilled people to dig deep in this field. All the affected sectors need qualified persons to handle AI properly. This should have been paid attention.

One more thing seems to be missed which is global cooperation about AI related issues. As AI does not have specific national boundary, it definitely will require international collaboration.

AI ethics is also absent in the policy which poses a threat to the policy itself.

AI in Academia in Bangladesh

To cope up with the new challenge and embrace its endless possibilities, the law schools of Bangladesh are also updating their syllabus. The private universities are moving fast with this discourse. Classes, different seminars, peer discussion assignments and practical projects are being introduced and encouraged in some law schools. This topic falls within the ICT discourse but hopefully it will be given priority as a separate one in near future.

But in academia, international collaboration is missing. This should be paid attention by proper authority.

And one more thing, academia alone cannot excel in this field without appropriate communication with the industrial sector. A balanced communication and co-operation between academia and industry is a must for AI management.

Conclusion

We are living in a timeline when science fiction is almost real. The world is never the same as yesterday. To control and utilize AI’s possibilities and to deal with the threat it poses, it is high time Bangladesh enacts necessary and efficient laws. It is best to hope that we will also be capable of coping up with the AI revolution worldwide.  

For this success, mere policies are not enough. Strong and strict laws are required with necessary legal and technical resources. International collaboration is a must as AI is mostly being developed in first world countries.

For domestic development and protecting global peace, Bangladesh needs to enact up-to-date laws, improve academic attention and arrange collaboration among all the affected sectors of the country.

References

1.Artificial Intelligence: Bangladesh Perspective
2.An Overview of Bangladesh National AI Policy 2024
3.Exploring the Future of AI

Author: Sabikonnaher Noni is a former lecturer of Law at Daffodil International University.