Disrupting public policy and governance are new-age technologies like Blockchain and Al. Tamil Nadu is working on a state-level policy for both of these future-oriented technologies. The will be released soon in about 8 to 10 days after they get approval.

“We are working on separate policies on blockchain and AI. The AI policy is going to be perhaps the world’s first policy addressing safe and ethical use of AI,” Santosh Misra, CEO, TN e-Governance Agency (TNeGA), said.

“No state or country has announced a standalone policy to address the safety and ethics associated with AI, and we have no precedent for it,” he further mentioned.

The Al policy by Tamil Nadu is a big deal because it will be a first for the country. It was not long ago that the Telangana government had released a draft Blockchain Policy for the state to attract blockchain enterprises to set up shop in the state. Misra was addressing the people at the launch of CII Connect 2019, an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) conference that will take place on November 7-8 in Chennai, which hopes to unite the state’s ICT leaders, policymakers, academics, and entrepreneurs.

Tamil Nadu’s AI and blockchain policies will lay down how the state government will be leveraging the emerging technologies for service delivery and solving governance issues.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a blockchain platform created by the TNeGA for better e-service delivery to citizens.

A predictive system for government service delivery and the issue of various identity certificates will be offered by the platform. The citizens won’t even have to apply for the same. Recently, an AI-powered attendance system for students in two corporation schools was the successful use-case of AI in the state.

“We are now likely to roll it out state-wide. It saves close to 45 minutes every day in the attendance process”, the chief minister said.

AI can bring in complications when not rolled out considering safety and ethics, and the state mentioned that the state is ready to tackle such issues. The policy will keep those aspects in mind and fight them effectively, Misra said.