Developers, deployers, operators, vendors, and users of artificial intelligence (AI) models will share liability for their systems as Kenya seeks to reinforce accountability on the new technology increasingly adopted by local businesses, government offices and private users. A new proposal by the ICT ministry indicates that responsibility for AI models will no longer rest with one player. “Recognising that AI systems are rarely designed, deployed and operated by a single organisation, the draft AI policy indicates that future implementing legislation will provide for allocation of liability, accountability, insurance, and redress across developers, deployers, operators, vendors, and users, supported by requirements relating to transparency, explainability and auditability,” analysts at law firm Bowmans said in a note. “This marks a significant shift towards shared accountability, with organisations expected to understand and manage their role in the AI lifecycle while supporting regulatory oversight, enforcement and effective redress.” The push for shared responsibility comes even as Kenya also seeks to regulate AI models used in the country or affecting residents, even when the companies that own them do not have local operations. The ICT ministry proposes to extend the government’s control to overseas tech firms such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Facebook’s parent Meta, whose AI systems are increasingly being adopted by Kenyan businesses, government offices and private users.“This policy applies to any entity outside Kenya that provides AI or other emerging technologies systems or services whose outputs are used within Kenya, or which have direct and foreseeable effects on individuals, rights, or public interests in Kenya,” reads the draft AI policy. The policy proposal gives the government powers to hold tech firms accountable if their products, services, or data systems are accessed or used in Kenya, regardless of where the company is headquartered. The guidelines cover software vendors, cloud service providers, compute providers, AI model developers, data intermediaries, data annotation providers and public-sector technology suppliers used locally. “This policy adopts an effects-based jurisdictional approach, consistent with international best practice in data protection and consumer protection law,” the policy says. The regulatory model, technically referred to as extraterritorial jurisdiction, is similar to that adopted by the European Union (EU). The regional bloc routinely fines tech giants whose products infringe on Europeans' privacy and safety. Such an approach allows a government, regulator, or court to exercise legal authority over companies or individuals located outside its physical borders, as long as their action has direct consequences within the regulating country's territory. This means international AI companies whose products are used in Kenya – including OpenAI’s GPT models, Anthropic’s Claude and Meta’s Llama – could be required to comply with Kenyan AI rules even if they have no physical presence in the country. Google, which owns the Gemini AI model, and Microsoft, the developer of the MAI series of models, already have offices in Kenya. (ICE NAIROBI)

Fonte notizia: Business Daily