As digital markets continue to expand and artificial intelligence evolves, governments and regulators need to remain agile when it comes to governance and public strategies in AI.
I recently represented the Competition Commission during a panel discussion on AI governance and economic inclusion at a pre-Brics summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where I explained how competition policy can be an important tool that when effectively applied can regulate adverse effects from the operation of AI and Big Tech within our respective countries.
My presentation to the panel highlighted three major points central to effective regulation and opportunity creation within the evolving landscape of AI. First, market inquiries are a regulatory or competition policy tool that can address AI’s impact on markets and consumers. With AI and AI-embedded digital platforms in constant evolution, market inquiries provide a flexible, evidence-led mechanism that involves stakeholders in seeking practical solutions. This approach supports the design of remedies that mitigate the adverse effects AI might introduce, without constraining the innovation and benefits that AI products and services may offer.
Securing data sovereignty was one of the summit’s key discussion points as delegates also unpacked issues around access to data. In addition, I pointed out that access to data especially in training AI models such as large language models (LLMs) are necessary as LLMs require a large scale of content and data to develop.
Currently Big Tech enjoy economies of scope and scale for accessing content and data. However, this creates high barriers to expansion for small and medium enterprises and start-ups facing significant challenges accessing essential data that will enable them to further develop their AI models. There is now a critical need for the inclusion of South African data and data sharing in the development of LLMs as it is vital to add that local context and responsiveness to AI chatbots. If we act now as regulators, we can position competition policy to address the emerging data asymmetry between Big Tech platforms and South African companies.
Capital intensive
The third point I raised in my presentation relates to the access to AI infrastructure. We cannot deny that building digital infrastructure for AI (data centres, supercomputing, high-speed networks) is capital intensive. In South Africa, we have our own data centre operators like Teraco as well as foreign-owned ones such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft. SMEs and start-ups often rely on cloud services provided by data centres, which leads to potentially higher costs and less local support. There is a growing chasm in investment in AI infrastructure by leading AI stakeholders (for example, Big Tech) and many other emerging countries. Competition policy can play a role where access to AI infrastructure, like cloud services, must be fair, non-discriminatory and non-exploitative. Furthermore, expanding digital services and infrastructure to underserved rural/poorer areas is important for digital inclusion, and regulators should determine where competition policy can support this.
In the past, regulators might not have been synonymous with agility and collaboration. Through market inquiries, in particular, the Competition Commission has proven that it is agile and open to working with firms and industry stakeholders to find solutions that address competition concerns, create opportunities for SMEs and start-ups, and balance the rights of consumers. Not only is there scope for South Africa to develop its own AI sovereignty, but opportunities also exist for the development of niche and industry-specific AI capabilities such as AI applications and LLMs.
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Lastly, there have been concerns around the economic survival of original content providers. It was concluded that Big Tech would have incentive to ensure their survival as original content providers produce the content that in turn trains the LLMs.
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- Donnavan Linley is technical lead for the media and digital platforms market inquiry and senior analyst at the Competition Commission
