India May Regulate AI By Risk Under Proposed New Law
The proposed framework may place lighter rules on low risk tools while tightening oversight of AI used in finance, healthcare and critical infrastructure, ET reported.
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India may regulate artificial intelligence through a graded, risk-based framework under a proposed new law that would place stricter obligations on AI systems used in sensitive sectors such as banking, finance, healthcare and critical infrastructure, The Economic Times reported, citing a government official.
The proposed law may require minimal oversight for low-risk AI tools, including chatbots, productivity software and recommendation systems, while imposing tighter rules on high-risk applications, the report said.
The legislation is expected to provide a framework for safety testing of AI models and systems, along with sector-specific obligations.
ET reported that the framework may draw on existing regulatory norms enforced by bodies such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.
The proposed law is likely to be based on recommendations in India’s AI governance framework, including classification of AI systems, an India-specific AI risk assessment framework and a national mechanism to track AI-related incidents, ET reported.
Government guidelines released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology have also recommended developing India-specific AI risk assessment and classification frameworks with sectoral inputs, operationalizing a national AI incidents database and adopting new laws to address emerging risks and capabilities.
The proposed law is also expected to define obligations and liabilities for AI developers and deployers, especially for systems that generate data or take decisions autonomously, ET reported.
The report comes as senior government officials have signaled a shift from relying only on existing laws to considering a dedicated legal framework for AI.
At a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) cybersecurity event in Delhi last week, Electronics and Information Technology Secretary S. Krishnan said India’s current legal framework had addressed initial AI-related concerns, including deepfakes and labor issues, but that the government may need a separate law as the technology evolves.
“It is a conversation which has commenced,” Krishnan said, according to The New Indian Express. “My minister and I have both been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right, and it appears that the time is getting right, and we will start looking at it.”
Last month, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said India may need a new legal framework because the Information Technology Act was enacted before the rapid rise of AI technologies.
He said the government was consulting industry stakeholders and would seek to balance innovation with user safety.
