THE Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) is encouraging utility service providers to utilise and harness the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) to become more efficient as this would mean less cost to the consumer and the regulator.

This is the view of the regulatory body’s Deputy Director General Cheryl Lewis, even as she warned that this must be done with caution by carefully weighing the risks of AI integration.

“For the OUR, we have to approach this situation on a risk-based basis, where we monitor the risk using AI in the provision and the delivery of services to customers. The risk-based approach will also involve a review of the regulatory framework to address breaches and non-observance of the guiding principles,” she said at a webinar hosted by the utility regulator on Thursday.

Lewis also stressed that there must be regulatory agility “where we are able to forward-think to meet the changing circumstances to implement new views, new regulatory governance framework in order to address the challenges”.

She said that despite the challenges associated with AI, the utility regulator is embracing and encouraging people to use the technology because of the benefits, noting, for example, the special provision that was made in the electricity sector for smart meters for customers, which not only helps customers know their energy usage, but it also helps the utility company in planning better.

“We see the adoption of AI across all sectors of businesses, but particularly in the utility industry. AI’s ability to process large volumes of data, identify trends, and anomalies makes it a useful tool in every business process. And it is deemed that AI will drive efficiency, competitiveness, and provide some customer value,” she said, adding that AI also enhances regulatory compliance.

Lewis pointed out that telecommunications company Flow has indicated that they improved customer engagement through the AI deployed tool Chatbox, which produces personalised messages for customers. This is also used by other utility companies, including Jamaica Public Service Company and Digicel.

Turning to the legal and regulatory challenges presented by the development of AI, Lewis noted that various jurisdictions, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), the United States, and the European Union, have been grappling with how to regulate AI.

She pointed out that the UK has come up with an approach for five guiding principles as to how AI ought to be deployed that can be used throughout the UK and specifically in its public service.

“The first one speaks to data security and safety and the robustness from cyberattacks and any digital attacks that may potentially occur. There’s [also] the issue of transparency. A regulator is to ensure that the information that it gets from its entities that it regulates has an appropriate level of transparency…The data should present a fair approach, it should not be innately biased or produce discriminatory results. There should be some levels of accountability and governance as to how the data is actually used and so the information coming out of AI should reflect this provision,” she said.

Meanwhile, in response to a question posed by a webinar participant on the use of legislation to guide the use of AI, Lewis said the Government of Jamaica is in the process of developing new legislation relating to AI.

“It’s probably problematic because of the changes that are being made so rapidly. But what legislation does is go back to fundamental principles. It goes back to the… basic principles of protection, security, efficiency, and economic growth and harnessing that for development. So it is within that context that legislation is usually developed,” she said.

“So that question would have to be really posed to the Government of Jamaica to see how effective they are at harnessing AI at this point in time to make legislative changes and that is why the regulator in the meantime will deploy certain principles within its own organisation, and encourage companies, utility companies to do so in order to harness the benefits of AI whilst ensuring that the protective guard is kept around it for the benefits of all,” she added.