New Delhi [India], January 21 : Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh on Tuesday delivered his remarks at the plenary session of the 86th All India Presiding Officers Conference (AIPOC) in Lucknow.
In his address to the Presiding Officers from various states, he emphasised the role of AI in making legislatures more efficient but laid out various steps required to make the technology accurate and reliable.
Alongside outlining use cases and ways to implement AI in Parliament, he called for greater synergy between the States and Parliament. This would ensure that legislative institutional knowledge is used effectively.
Underlining a vision for harmonious coordination and access to information on policies, he said, "Legislatures are custodians of all official policy documents alongside the various debates on legislation and budgets. These documents are part of the House when they are laid on the table. This information is often scattered across ministries.
Parliaments and State legislatures can utilise AI to create a platform to make these easily accessible to all. This would promote the institution as a knowledge hub. Further, he highlighted the need for a 'Data Lake' where the unique language of legislative debates, vocabulary, and the documents across the country can be used to train the technology best suited for the Indian context.
Harivansh called for a hybrid mechanism in which humans retain oversight over the training and the nature of the output generated by AI. "What makes AI suitable for parliamentary use is not merely its algorithmic capability. It is the knowledge on which the technology is trained.
Parliamentary AI must therefore be trained within Parliament, fed with carefully curated parliamentary data. Skills can be acquired, transferred, or outsourced. Knowledge, however, is contextual and deeply embedded within the institution. Parliamentary knowledge is unique. It is built over decades through debates, rulings, conventions and constitutional practices," he said.
In his address, he explained how Parliament has been testing AI-enabled transcription and simultaneous interpretation to provide services in different languages. At present, Members of Parliament can access the House Business and other administrative documents in a language of their choice.
This has been executed using AI. Further, the Deputy Chairman explained how routine administrative tasks, such as the scrutiny of the admissibility of Questions for Question Hour and the search for past precedents and rulings, can be carried out using AI. He also called for more awareness and orientation sessions for staff and legislators to execute their respective roles efficiently.
Apart from the use of digital tools, subjects around strengthening accountability and capacity building of legislators were also discussed. The Conference commenced on January 19 in the presence of the Governor. Anandiben Patel and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.