Lok Sabha Question No. 461 (STARRED), answered on 2023-04-05
Subject: Steps to Regulate Artificial Intelligence
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shyam Yadav Singh

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED  QUESTION NO. *461

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 05.04.2023

## STEPS TO REGULATE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

## *461: SHRI SHYAM SINGH YADAV:

Will the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology be pleased to state:

- (a)      whether the Government is taking steps to regulate the growth of artificial intelligence in the country;
- (a) if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government intends to bring a law on artificial intelligence and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the steps taken by the Government to develop infrastructure, expertise, skilling and research in artificial intelligence?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the table of the House.

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *461 FOR 05-04-2023 REGARDING STEPS TO REGULATE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

.........

(a) to (c):  AI is a kinetic enabler of the digital economy and innovation ecosystem. Government is harnessing the potential of AI to provide personalized and interactive citizen-centric services through Digital Public Platforms. However, AI has ethical concerns and risks due to issues such as bias and discrimination  in  decision-making,  privacy  violations,  lack  of  transparency  in  AI  systems,  and questions  about  responsibility  for  harm  caused  by  it.  These  concerns  have  been  highlighted  in  the National Strategy for AI (NSAI) released in June, 2018. To address the ethical concerns and potential risks  associated  with  AI,  various  central  and  state  government  departments  and  agencies  have commenced efforts to standardize responsible AI development, use and promote the adoption of best practices. Additionally, NITI Aayog has published a series of papers on the subject of Responsible AI for  All.  However,  the  government  is  not  considering  bringing  a  law  or  regulating  the  growth  of artificial intelligence in the country.

- (d): Government of India sees Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a significant and strategic area for the country and technology sector.  It further believes that AI will have kinetic effect for the  growth of entrepreneurship &  business and Government  is taking all necessary steps in policies and infrastructure to develop a robust AI sector in the country.

The following are the details:

- i. Government  has  published  the  National  Strategy  for  Artificial  Intelligence  in  June  2018  and proposes to develop an ecosystem for the research and adoption of Artificial Intelligence i.e. #AI for ALL.
- ii. With  the  vision  to  make  India  a  global  leader  in  AI  space  and  to  ensure  responsible  and transformational use of AI for All, MeitY has undertaken the implementation of the 'National Program on Artificial Intelligence'. The program aims to establish a comprehensive program for leveraging transformative technologies to foster  inclusion, innovation, and adoption for social impact.
- iii. MeitY  has  established  Centres  of  Excellence  in  various  emerging  technologies  including Artificial Intelligence to explore opportunities in these specialized fields. These centres provide start-ups with premium plug-and-play co-working spaces and access to the ecosystem.
- iv. MeitY  has  launched  the  "National  AI  Portal"  (https://indiaai.gov.in/)  which  serves  as  a comprehensive repository of Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiatives in the country. The portal acts as  a  single  point  of  reference  for  individuals,  researchers,  and  industry  professionals  seeking information about AI initiatives in India, including academic  research, startups, policy initiatives, and other related information.
- v. India  is  a  founding  member  of  Global  Partnership  on  Artificial  Intelligence  (GPAI),  having joined the multi-stakeholder initiative on June 15, 2020. India has won more than two-thirds of first preference votes and has been entrusted with the responsibility of incoming council chair of the GPAI in November 2022.GPAI is an international and multi-stakeholder initiative to guide the  responsible  development  and  use  of  AI,  grounded  in  human  rights,  inclusion,  diversity, innovation, and economic growth.
- vi. Research :  Department  of  Science  &  Technology  is  implementing  the  National  Mission  on Interdisciplinary  Cyber-Physical  Systems  (NM-ICPS)  to  promote  R&D,  Human  Resource Development  (HRD),  Technology  Development,  Entrepreneurship  Development,  International Collaboration  etc.  As      part    of    this    Mission  25  Technology      Innovation  Hubs  (TIHs)  in advanced technologies have been established in reputed institutes across the country. The TIHs at IIT Kharagpur, IIIT Hyderabad and IIT BHU are working towards Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.
- vii. Expertise & Skilling:
1. MeitY  has  initiated  'Future  Skills  PRIME'  a  programme  for  Re-skilling/Up-skilling  of  IT Manpower  for  Employability  in  10  new/emerging  technologies.  These  include  AI,  Blockchain, Robotics,  Big  Data  &  Analytics,  IoT,  Virtual  Reality,  Cyber  security,  Cloud  Computing,  3D Printing and Web 3.0.
2. Government has initiated 'Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme' with the objective to enhance the number of PhDs  in  Electronics  System  Design  &  Manufacturing  (ESDM)  and  IT/IT  Enabled  Services (IT/ITES) sectors including AI and Emerging Technologies.
3. Government has launched Responsible AI for Youth 2022, on July 30, 2022. The Programme was designed to reach out to students from Government schools on pan India basis and provide them with  an  opportunity  to  become  part  of  the  skilled  workforce  in  an  inclusive  manner.  The programme impacted 52,628 students across 35States and UTs, empowering youth with necessary AI skill sets, who had limited or no access to thelatest technologies and resources.
4. National  e-Governance  Division  (NeGD), MeitY in  collaboration  with its  partners,  has  launched 'YUVAi: Youth for Unnati and Vikas with AI'- A National Programme for School Students with the objective of enabling school students from classes 8 th to 12 th with AI tech and social skills in an inclusive manner. The programme will provide a platform for youth to learn and apply AI skills in 8 thematic areas- Krishi, Aarogya, Shiksha, Paryavaran, Parivahan, Grameen Vikas, Smart Cities and Vidhi aur Nyaay.

## viii. Infrastructure:

1. MeitY along with CDAC has also initiated a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) project on AIRAWAT (AI Research,  Analytics  and  Knowledge  Dissemination  Platform)  for  providing  a  common  compute platform  for  AI  research  and  knowledge  assimilation.  This  AI  Computing  infrastructure  will  be used  by  all  Technology  innovation  hubs,  Research  Labs,  Scientific  Communities,  Industry,  and Start-Ups  institutions  with  National  Knowledge  Network.  The  PoC  for  AIRAWAT  is  developed with 200 petaflops Mix Precision AI Machine which will be scalable to a peak compute of One AI Exaflop.
2. NIC has setup a Centre of Excellence in AI which is involved in facilitating AI as a Service through on  Meghraj  cloud  with  7  AI  PFlops  super  compute  facility  created  at  Delhi  and  5  AI  PFlop  in Kolkata.

## ix. Data Management:

1. Data is  the  key  input  for  any  AI  based  system.  Considering  this,  Government  has  developed  an Open Government data Platform (OGD). Currently, 601,059 data resources from various central &state departments are available on OGD platform.
2. MeitY  has  completed  the  public  consultation  of  Draft  National  Data  Governance  Policy.  This policy seeks to enhance access, quality, and use of data in line with emerging technology needs. The policy aims to ensure that non-personal and anonymized datasets from both Government and Private entities are safely accessible by start-ups and academia to unleash innovation and research. It  provides  an  institutional  framework  for  governing  data  access  and  use,  streamlining  intergovernment  data  access,  ensuring  compliance  with  data  quality  &  metadata  standards,  and formulating anonymization guidelines.

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