A consultation paper on artificial intelligence (AI) governance being drafted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) would seek to balance broad oversight with the varying needs of specific industries, government officials said.
Officials noted that risks vary significantly across domains, particularly in critical infrastructure sectors such as banking and securities and commodities markets.
The consultation paper, expected to form the foundation of India’s AI regulatory framework, would focus on safety, humanity, skilling, inclusivity, and risk mitigation.
“The problem with an overarching MeitY guidance is that it affects different sectors differently,” a ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said that sectoral regulators should go ahead as financial regulators, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have done it before.
The official added that some sectors face much larger risks because they are critical infrastructure, and that the ministry works closely with their regulators. “You can be a little tight in some of those critical sectors, but if MeitY gets tight, it affects everyone, so we have to find that balance,” the official said.
MeitY minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on October 8 that the ministry would issue a consultation paper on a new artificial intelligence (AI) law in a month, a move that signalled a shift in New Delhi’s approach amid growing concerns around the technology’s potential risks.
Vaishnaw’s announcement was significant because the government had previously argued that existing laws and voluntary norms were enough, a position that critics said left gaps on risks such as autonomous agents and accountability.
The government believes AI cannot be regulated through legislation alone and needs a techno-legal approach with stakeholders involved from the start. MeitY expects industry to carry much of the implementation and take primary responsibility for tackling user harm, cybersecurity risks, safety issues, psychological disorders and deepfakes.
The consultation paper will be the first formal step towards a statute and is expected to feature key questions, including who will regulate the technology, how responsibility for AI-related harm will be determined and what safeguards will be required.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently proposed holding telecom companies such as Airtel, Jio, and Vodafone-Idea directly accountable for anything that goes wrong with the AI they use in their networks and services, including AI they buy from vendors. In draft guidelines released on October 30, TRAI said telecom companies must report serious AI failures to the regulator.