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Discussants at a session titled "From Silos to Systems: Rewiring the Global Data Order" stressed the urgent need for interoperable governance, ethical data practices and people-centred digital transformation.
Speaking at the fourth edition of the Bay of Bengal Conversation (BoBC) 2025, held in Dhaka on 22-24 November, they highlighted that fragmented data ecosystems, weak safeguards and uncritical enthusiasm for emerging technologies risk undermining public trust and deepening inequality across regions.
According to them, addressing such challenges requires aligning legal reforms, technical systems and societal values.
Chief Adviser's Special Assistant on Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, said the government had moved to fix long-standing digital silos across 757 ministries and departments by enabling data exchange through APIs in partnership with the World Bank.
Bangladesh had drafted its first Personal Data Protection Ordinance to harmonise with US and European regimes, defining the roles of data actors and introducing rules for cross-border transfers, he mentioned.
Amendments to the Cyber Safety Ordinance, he said, had led to the dismissal of around 90 per cent of previously filed cases, many of which were politically motivated.
Mr. Taiyeb further said a National Data Governance Authority would oversee data collections, processing and grievance redress.
The Telecommunication Act is being amended to prevent arbitrary internet shutdowns and introduce global best practices in surveillance governance, he observed.
Speaking on the occasion, economist and policy analyst Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman warned that an "AI-driven society" risks subordinating human purpose to machines, insisting that technology must remain at the service of people.
He said data and AI are never neutral and reflect underlying values and power dynamics, requiring societies to interrogate their broader purpose before rushing into adoption.
Highlighting the risks for informal populations, he cautioned that poorly designed systems could exclude or criminalise those who lack formal identity records.
He also said identity capital, such as national ID systems, remains essential for marginalised groups to be recognised in state databases.
Dr Rahman added that while AI has clear value in areas such as agriculture and climate resilience, it must be deployed within a balanced, purpose-driven framework.
Veronica Portugal, founder and CEO of Paideia Cívica Mexico, said AI must be governed as a question of power rather than technology, noting that rapid advances have outpaced institutional capacity.
She also warned that AI built on fragmented, biased or incomplete data replicates historical inequalities and makes vulnerable groups "invisible inside the system".
Portugal stressed that data represents people's lives and identities, and that trust collapses when reforms lack transparency.
She said responsible governance requires communities to be "co-authors", not passive users, through participation, radical transparency and shared ownership.
She observed that AI can help translate the energy of social movements into institutional improvements if deployed within civic-centred frameworks.
Masudur Rahman, a digital transformation specialist at a Big 4 consulting firm, said both governments and corporations remain trapped in entrenched silos that prevent meaningful insight and efficiency.
He said AI is now central to harmonising information across systems, helping organisations develop integrated views of customers and operations.
Describing 'agentic AI' as the next evolution, he said AI agents capable of managing other AIs will enable end-to-end automation across value chains. He said Bangladesh's digital future will depend on breaking silos, strengthening ethical oversight and building intelligent systems capable of serving people effectively.
Owais Parray, Country Economic Adviser, UNDP Bangladesh and Subimal Bhattacharjee, Treasurer And Head Critical and Emerging Technologies, The Society to Harmonise Aspirations for Responsible Engagement (SHARE) also spoke at the session.
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