ANATEL opens an RFC to discuss the regulation of artificial intelligence

The Brazilian Telecommunications Agency (“ANATEL”) opened the Request for Comments No. 5/2024, to receive contributions from society regarding the role of connectivity as platform that enables the full development of emerging technologies, especially artificial intelligence (“AI”). The initiative is part of the Agency’s Strategic Plan for 2023-2027, aimed at fostering digital transformation.

As a result of the initiative, ANATEL plans to achieve a prospective diagnosis (i.e. potentialities, difficulties, risks, trends, and challenges) of the use of AI in the provision of telecommunications services, and of how the connectivity infrastructure contributes to the advancement of AI. This diagnosis will support the Agency’s planning on the matter and the development of future actions, which may involve amendments to existing regulations or issuing new ones, to mitigate risks or foster potential benefits.

Given the disruptive and transformative potential of the use of AI in society, ANATEL has emphasized that the Request for Comments is not limited to technical aspects of the relationship between AI and connectivity infrastructure, but also addresses its repercussions across other areas that may be subject to the telecommunications regulation, such as competition and consumption. The Agency encourages stakeholders to comment on how ANATEL can work towards achieving the ideal scenarios, in addition to preventing risks.

The Request for Comments is based on questions that address the following topics, among others:

• The impact of the use of AI on the development and enforcement of regulations by ANATEL within the telecommunications sector (e.g. using AI in 6G and other future telecom networks, optimizing the management of spectrum and orbit resources or facilitating their use by satellite sector players to foster space sustainability, certifying and approving products, establishing models for the evaluation of AI algorithms by regulatory authorities, etc.);
• The uses and impacts of the use of AI in communication networks (e.g., impacts on mobile and fixed network traffic, current network functions and open network standards, potential need for adjustments to the current architecture of networks, decentralization of processing functions to network edge and/or specific measures by ANATEL regarding the use of AI systems and solutions focused on the Internet of Things);
• New business models and initiatives in the provision of connectivity (business models and initiatives that can be enabled with the application of AI systems and solutions);
• Initiatives or business models within the context of the relationship between AI and connectivity that could be tested through regulatory sandboxes;
• Measures to be adopted by ANATEL to (i) stimulate the use of AI by small providers as a competitive differentiator or to mitigate market failures that may arise from or be enhanced by its use; and (ii) guarantee universal access to the benefits of AI;
• The impact of the use of AI on consumer-related activities in telecommunications services and the precautions and limits that should be considered by ANATEL;
• The main privacy, security, and ethical risks and precautions involved in the use of databases typically used in telecommunications operations through AI, as well as the main difficulties arising from the increased use of AI in applications and in the provision of telecommunications services regarding compliance with the duty to protect the confidentiality of user’s data; and
• The development of a digital public observatory of initiatives that demonstrate the integration between connectivity and AI, with the structuring of a reference platform capable of connecting the numerous active players in the development of the Brazilian digital ecosystem, such as industry, academia, research laboratories, developers, and manufacturers.

The RfC will remain open for contributions at the Participa Anatel platform by June 9, 2024, and the related documents are available for consultation at this link.

Demarest Advogados’ Telecommunications, Media and Technology (TMT) team is closely monitoring the development of the matter and remains available to provide any clarifications.