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Gaining people's confidence is a big challenge in using technologies like facial recognition with Artificial Intelligence, said Telangana's Industry and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao.

He shared his thoughts on 'AI on the Street: Managing Trust in the Public Square' at a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.

"Big challenge in using technologies like facial recognition coupled with AI is to gain citizens' confidence that the government is unbiased in their use of data and citizens are not surveilled unless they have been notified."

KTR, as the minister is popularly known, stated that the only way to be able to achieve this would be to first clearly identify the regulatory powers that each of the government organisations would require. "These powers must be given to them in a parliamentary and a fully transparent method," he said.

"Facial recognition has reduced the dependency on physical resources and time taken to find criminals and missing people. With the right regulatory outreach, we can make it far easier for police and also support the citizens with their needs," he said.

Emphasising making the process transparent, the minister stated that every single step that the government will take to be able to use facial recognition needs to be shared with the public first before it is being used by the government organisations. This needs to be formally bestowed upon them following the rules of democracy.

KTR reiterated that obtaining public confidence is very important. "The government understands the advantages that facial recognition provides in regulation and policing. The confidence that the public has in this system needs to be bolstered by optional systems that can expose them to the method and only then scale up."

About education within the government, he said: "We need minds that are well-versed in AI, ML, Blockchain, Data Sciences and the risks that come with the use of the same. The data being used must be fully secured and the security must be verified."

Meanwhile, KTR met Bharti Enterprises (Airtel) Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, abd Vice Chairman, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman of , and discussed cooperation and collaboration on T-Fiber, a state government initiative to connect rural and urban households with broadband. The minister invited Bharti to set up their data centres in Telangana.

The minister also had a conversation with spiritual leader Sadguru at the Telangana Pavilion. The 'Save Soil movement' and a range of environmental issues were discussed during the session.

KTR praised Sadguru's brainchild 'Save Soil movement' and highlighted various programmes taken up by the Telangana government for the welfare of farmers and the environment.

Sadguru stated that the programs of Telangana government are making a great difference to the society. He appreciated the state leadership for the good work.