Under the initiative of London-based NGO CI (Consumers International), the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection in Bangladesh is going to celebrate World Consumer Day on Friday (March 15) under the theme ‘Smart Bangladesh is using artificial intelligence for the benefit of consumers’. On the occasion of the World Consumer Day, Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) also jointly celebrate the day as a member organization of CI.
However, Bangladesh Mobile Phone Consumers Association-BMPCA, an organization engaged in telecommunication and technology services, considers this slogan to be a joke for the consumers of Bangladesh. At the same time, the organization called to observe this day on the birthday of Bangabandhu on April 6. As a reason for this, on this day in 2009 i.e., the birthday of the father of the nation, the National Consumer Rights Act was passed in Parliament. Therefore, they called for consumer day to be observed for a month or a week instead of a day like the neighboring country India.
In a statement sent to the media on Thursday, a day before the declared Consumer Day, Mohiuddin Ahmed, president of the organization, said that the interests of consumers in the country are being violated to an extreme extent. The third day of Ramadan is passing but the consumer department has failed to protect the interests of consumers. They have also scaled back the market for the past month or so. But three days of Ramadan are going to pass today. When the price of dates is 500 to 1500 taka, the price of government fuel is on the rise, fish, meat, curry, fish, meat, vegetables, fruits, spices, and even medicine are beyond the reach of the consumers, then it is nothing but mockery to dream of them using artificial intelligence to build a smart Bangladesh.
‘CI is an NGO; Therefore, their motto can never be National Day’- he added.
Mohiuddin said, World Consumer Day is not our national day. Apart from Amazon, Alibaba, Uber, several international giants have invested in artificial intelligence. The elite technologists of the world are already saying against this – AI will be one of the tools to destroy human civilization. Hollywood screenwriters and writers even boycotted or went on strike against it. If we notice, it includes computers, robots and other devices with higher capabilities. In 1955, John McCarthy first introduced what we call artificial intelligence. DB already arrested one person in our country for committing crimes using AI technology. Complaints of Srilata Hari have also been received from many people. We also know that the National Directorate of Consumer Protection does not receive or settle any complaint of fraud in telecommunication and technology services. So, the question is on one side asking to use AI and on the other side not accepting allegations of being cheated is completely contradictory.