After India's Income Tax Department, CAG is adopting AI
The debate on artificial intelligence's (AI) pros and cons is raging worldwide. Despite the differences in opinion about it, AI is already part of various spheres of our lives. India's Income Tax Department recently started using AI to find some tax evaders. Now, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is using the technology to find fake beneficiaries, risky transactions, and more.
Why does this story matter?
One of the biggest questions we are facing now is about the responsible use of AI. A concrete answer to this question is yet to be found. Meanwhile, regulatory authorities have found a use for AI's analyzing and pattern-recognizing abilities. AI can easily analyze large datasets and find suspicious activities. The CAG's initiative will ensure government schemes reach deserving beneficiaries.
AI was used to find fake/duplicate beneficiaries of DISHA
The CAG unveiled the 'Compendium on Responsible Artificial Intelligence' at the SAI20 Engagement Summit. It consists of various case studies that show how AI & ML (machine learning) can be used. For instance, AI was used to find whether the beneficiaries of the Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) used the same images, different images of the same beneficiaries, or non-human images to claim training costs.
The model was trained to analyze images
The model used for this was developed by the Centre for Data Management & Analytics at CAG. They trained the model to automatically analyze large volumes of images, which was impossible manually.
CAG used AI to find non-existing schools
The CAG also used AI & ML to find non-existent schools that claimed scholarship benefits. The model was developed in the open-source platform Python. The developers identified several parameters for the model to identify the schools. According to the compendium, it achieved 92% accuracy. The auditor used AI to detect ineligible beneficiaries that claimed scholarship benefits too.
AI is being used to help with performance audits
We have seen the Income Tax Department using AI to detect evaders. The CAG also used AI to find transactions where input tax credit was claimed using fake invoices. Any analysis conducted with the help of AI is subjected to field validation. The CAG has also started using AI for sampling to conduct field validations as part of its performance audit of scholarship schemes.
