An Overview of India's AI Policy Developments
A brief survey for outsiders looking in, by CeRAI policy analyst Omir Kumar
An Overview of India's AI Policy Developments
The transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has been compared to that of electricity 100 years ago. AI is being leveraged across sectors such as healthcare, education, banking, service delivery etc. For instance, India is developing Bhashini, an AI-based language translation tool to enable real-time translation of Indian languages to allow Indians to access digital services in their native languages. While there are benefits to AI technologies, they also present us with several challenges that have triggered debates among policymakers across the world about how AI should be governed. Several governments have taken policy measures that seek to regulate AI such as the EU AI Act by the European Parliament and the Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of AI by the US President. Similar developments have also taken place in India. This article seeks to provide an overview of the key policy developments relating to AI in India.
India’s National Strategy for AI formulated by NITI Aayog
The National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence was presented in 2018. It highlighted healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities & infrastructure, and transport as key sectors for the adoption of AI. Further, it identified some challenges to the adoption of AI in India which include: (i) low intensity of AI research, (ii) high resource cost and low awareness of the adoption of AI, (iii) privacy and security issues, and (iv) lack of expertise in research & application of AI. The Strategy while noting the risks of AI advocated for responsible design, development & use of AI. In 2021, NITI Aayog released a framework for Responsible AI that laid certain key principles for designing, deploying, and using AI technologies safely and responsibly. These principles include: (i) safety and reliability, (ii) equality, (iii) inclusivity and non-discrimination, (iv) transparency & accountability.
State-level AI Policy Initiatives
State governments have also been trying to leverage AI in several sectors such as e-governance, health, education, etc. Some states have come up with their own policies/ strategies to promote the development and use of AI technologies. For instance, in September 2024, Telangana released a Roadmap for the use of AI in the state. The Roadmap proposes to set up the Telangana AI Advisory Council consisting of AI and policy experts from the government, industry, and academia. The Council’s role will be to provide guidance for R&D, public policy, talent development, and ethical & responsible adoption of AI. In 2020, Tamil Nadu released the Safe & Ethical Artificial Intelligence Policy which seeks to: (i) promote the use of AI in an ethical, inclusive, and safe manner, (ii) attract investments in AI R&D, and (iii) provide access to open data, data models and computing resources.
India yet to come up with a policy framework to regulate AI
India has not yet come up with a framework or legislation to regulate AI and consultations are still ongoing. The central government has formed several committees with policymakers and AI experts to provide recommendations for a framework to govern AI. In 2018, the central government constituted four expert committees for the promotion of AI and developing an AI policy framework. These committees had come out with their respective reports containing a roadmap and recommendations on key areas such as skilling, R&D, platforms & data for AI, and privacy, legal & ethical issues. In October 2023, the Expert Group on AI presented its report providing a blueprint for operationalizing the AI ecosystem in India. The Bureau of Indian Standards (the National Standards Body of India) has also been working on formulating standards to regulate AI. Further, the central government had planned to introduce the Digital India Act which was expected to replace the Information Technology Act, 2000 (“IT Act”), and also expected to regulate the development and use of AI. However, recent news reports indicate that the government may not proceed with this proposal.
Government launches IndiaAI Mission for developing AI in India
In March 2024, the central government had approved Rs 10,372 crore for the IndiaAI Mission. The Mission seeks to promote the development of AI in India by providing the required infrastructure, funding, and skilling. The core objectives of the Mission have been divided into seven 7 pillars -
Compute Capacity: Building infrastructure for the development of AI
Innovation Centre: Creating indigenous and domain-specific foundation models
Dataset Platform: Enabling access to non-personal data sets
Application Development Initiative: Using AI for socio-economic good
FutureSkills: Expanding AI education and establishing labs in Tier 2 & 3 cities
IndiaAI Startup Financing: Accelerating AI startups by streamlining access to funding
Safe & Trusted AI: Promoting responsible development, deployment, and adoption of AI
CeRAI is actively involved in various activities related to the pillars of the Mission. It has been putting out multidisciplinary research on the safe & responsible design and use of AI. Further, it is engaged in various activities focussed on AI awareness and education. CeRAI has also been participating in various stakeholder consultations by the government on AI and has been giving recommendations on various issues related to the use of AI and its governance.
India working towards global cooperation on AI
While governments are working on AI regulation in their respective countries, there has been a need for global coordination on AI. India has been promoting global cooperation on AI, hosting the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (“GPAI”) Summit in December 2023 and the Global India AI Summit in July 2024. These events brought together AI and policy experts, civil society, and industry leaders from around the world to discuss issues related to the development, use, and governance of AI. India has also signed the Bletchley Declaration, emphasizing the need for global cooperation to understand and manage AI risks for responsible and safe use.
Snapshot of India’s AI Policy Landscape
Way forward for AI policy in India
As discussed above, India has made several efforts to formulate an AI governance framework.
The Minister for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (the apex Ministry in India working on AI governance) has mentioned that the government is working on AI regulation with a focus on containing the risks and implementing guard rails around AI. He also mentioned that the regulation of AI will require global coordination.
Recently there have been reports of India wanting to set up an AI Safety Institute to develop standards and frameworks for AI. Other countries such as the UK, US, Singapore, and Japan have set up such institutes. They play a key role in setting standards for developing and using AI responsibly, fostering international and national collaborations, raising awareness around AI, and putting out multidisciplinary research on AI. If set up in India, the Safety Institute will play an important role in shaping India’s AI Policy.
(You can contact the author at omir@cerai.in)