Government Rules Out Separate Regulatory Body For AI

The government is not considering setting up a separate body for the regulation of artificial intelligence, according to officials at India's Ministry of Electronics and IT.

Instead, guidelines and frameworks around the use of artificial intelligence will come via an AI safety institute that will be set up soon, the officials quoted above told NDTV Profit. The institute, paired with the existing practice of issuance of voluntary guidelines to companies, will form the structure of regulating the technology.

The institute is in the works and will be more in the domain of research, the above-quoted officials said.

They added that the government continues to be cognizant of the risks that AI holds, but the intent remains to balance regulations with innovation.

This move by the government is in line with the recommendations given by a key committee on cybersecurity, safety, legal, and ethical issues. It is one of the four committees constituted by the MeitY in 2018 for promoting artificial intelligence initiatives and developing a policy framework.

"The risks are so specific to the context and use that rather than appointing an overarching entity (like an agency with broad regulatory authority over robotics or machine intelligence), oversight would best be provided via existing sector-specific entities," the committee had written.

The AI framework will likely define broad principles and guidelines while allowing organisations to design their own programmes in compliance with them.