Time has come to look at separate AI legislation, says IT Secy S Krishnan

India appears set to move towards a dedicated regulatory framework for artificial intelligence, with IT Secretary S Krishnan on Friday saying the time has come to look at a separate AI regulation.

Krishnan noted that while existing legal provisions have so far been adequate in addressing initial concerns on issues like deepfakes and AI-generated synthetic content, an "additional regulation or law may be needed".

"It is a conversation which has commenced, and my Minister (IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw) 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," Krishnan said.

He added: "We have used the IT rules, and other provisions of existing law to address various concerns that AI raises, but now, probably the time has come to look at a separate legislation."  Asked about the timelines for bringing out a new AI regulation, the IT secretary said: "As Ministry, at an official level, what we can do is prepare draft legislation...when it finally comes out, is not something which I can comment, especially when it is a legislation."  Last month, in an interview to PTI, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had said that the current information technology law was framed much before the rapid emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and that a new legal framework may be required to deal with the changing landscape.

Vaishnaw had said discussions are on with the industry and that the government will seek to strike a balance between innovation and regulation.

Policymakers, across the globe, are grappling with challenges posed by generative AI, including deepfakes, misinformation, and online harms.

India has been tightening IT rules to firmly crack down on AI deepfakes.

In February this year, the government brought in stricter obligations for online platforms on handling AI-generated and synthetic content, including deepfakes, saying platforms, such as X and Instagram, must take down within three hours any such content flagged by a competent authority or court.

The government notified amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, that formally define AI-generated and synthetic content.

The amendments defined "audio, visual or audio-visual information" and "synthetically-generated information", covering AI-created or altered content that appears real or authentic. Routine editing, accessibility improvements, and good-faith educational or design work have been excluded from this definition.

The Centre has also mooted stricter disclosure norms for AI-generated content, proposing tweaks to IT rules that would require clear and continuous labels identifying synthetically generated information to be visible throughout the entire duration of the visual display.