New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and IT announced that it will publish a consultation paper on AI regulation within a month. The paper will focus on safety, a human‑first approach, skilling, and ensuring no person is left behind. It is intended to be the foundation for future regulation, marking a shift from relying solely on existing laws and voluntary compliance.
The consultation will also address harms from deepfakes, noting that their increasing quality can mislead people and lead to harmful beliefs and actions. The ministry will examine psychological disorders linked to deepfakes as part of its analysis.
Vaishnaw said legislation alone will not suffice; a techno‑legal solution involving stakeholders is required. He emphasized that the bulk of responsibility will lie with industry, covering cybersecurity, safety and user harm. The Ministry’s earlier AI Governance Guidelines, released in November 2025, avoided a dedicated AI law and relied on the IT Act, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, consumer laws and sectoral rules, with voluntary commitments expected before mandatory rules are considered after 9‑12 months.
In addition to regulatory work, the ministry is procuring GPUs for AI services, with a five‑year supply agreement that includes 10,000 GPUs and an initial tender for 5,000. It has also launched an empanelment process for firms and startups to bid on government tenders. The government is training one crore youth in AI skills over the next year, and it highlighted examples such as AI‑driven sugarcane yield improvements in Baramati, Amul’s Sarlaben assistant for 36 lakh milk producers, and a startup that increased TB detection reliability by 35 %.
