AI regulation consultation paper next month, says IT minister Vaishnaw

Vaishnaw said the government had reached a stage where India needed a regulatory framework for AI, but stressed that legislation alone would not be enough.

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Friday said that government is working on bringing AI regulations starting with releasing a Consultation paper next month. The paper will focus on AI safety, harms arising from its use, deepfakes, a human-first approach and skilling, Vaishnaw said while speaking at an event on the release of the World Development Report.

The minister said the government would release the regulation-focused consultation paper within a month, following which it would proceed with framing the AI regulatory framework. He said the government has now reached a stage where India needs a regulatory framework for AI, but stressed that legislation alone would not be enough.

“We have to bring a techno-legal solution,” the minister said, adding that all stakeholders would need to be brought on board, as quoted by PTI. Vaishnaw said AI safety would be the most important focus of the consultation paper.

He also flagged the growing sophistication of deepfakes, calling them a “nuisance which can cause huge problems in society”. “People believe them, and it sets a totally wrong precedent. It sets a totally wrong narrative, and people get lured into doing wrong things and believing wrong things,” he said.

The minister added that the framework would also address AI-related harms, including cybersecurity, user harm and psychological disorders, while ensuring that people are not left behind as the technology develops. He further said the industry would have to shoulder the primary responsibility for addressing these risks, including safety, cybersecurity, user harms and deepfakes.

“Humanity has to be the most important part of change that has happened,” Vaishnaw said, adding that the consultation paper would include a commitment to skilling.

This comes about two months after the government tightened IT Rules for social media platforms and other online intermediaries to tackle AI-generated deepfakes and other synthetically generated content, including deepfakes, child sexual abuse material, non-consensual intimate images and AI-based impersonation. The amendments also cut the deadline for removing unlawful content from 36 hours to three hours after a valid government or court notice, while requiring significant social media intermediaries to use automated tools to proactively detect certain unlawful material and address sensitive complaints, such as nudity and impersonation, within two hours. Failure to comply can result in platforms losing their safe-harbour protection under Section 79 of the IT Act.