IBM Says Indian Clients Are Worried About Unconscious Bias

Indian corporate decision-makers are concerned about “unconscious bias” when it comes to selling products to consumers, according to Harriet Green, chairman and chief executive officer of IBM Asia Pacific.

To get rid of this, many businesses are working with information technology companies, Green told BloombergQuint in an interview in Mumbai. “The use of artificial intelligence can demonstrate that the algorithms that we did not create are leading towards to unconscious bias and it is able to show clients immediately in the moment why decisions are being made.”

IBM India Pvt. Ltd., which competes with Indian IT firms, counts Vodafone Idea Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd. and State Bank of India as its clients.

Our clients have so far transitioned 20 percent of their functions to digital platforms and the heavy lifting is about to begin, Green said, adding that IBM has so far invested close to $40 billion in research and development globally. “Many of the capabilities that are digitizing are being created at IBM Labs in India and over 800 of the patents registered have come from India.”

IBM India, which has over 100,000 employees, posted a revenue of Rs 27,332 crore for the year ended March 2018.—Bloomberg Quint