Lok Sabha Question No. 3130 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: Artificial Intelligence Regulatory Framework
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Shri Krishna Prasad Tenneti

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION. NO. 3130

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 19.03.2025

## ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

## 3130. SHRI KRISHNA PRASAD TENNETI:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  measures  being  undertaken  by  the  Government  to  formulate  a  regulatory  framework  for Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies considering its ethical and economic impacts;
- (b)  the  measures  being  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  that  India's  approach  towards  AI  is independent and protects the sovereignty of the country in  view of the cross-border nature of AI technologies;
- (c) the details and the number of cases reported, chargesheets drawn and convictions made regarding deepfakes  and  other  unethical  practices  facilitated  by  AI  during  the  last  three  years,  State-wise especially in Andhra Pradesh; and
- (d) the steps being taken by the Government to protect the citizens from the adverse effects of AI along with details of the present governance framework for AI?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a)  to  (d):  The  Government  of  India  emphasizes  the  concept  of  'AI  for  All,'  aligning  with  the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision to democratise use of technology. This initiative aims to ensure that AI benefits all sectors of society, driving innovation and growth.

The policies of the Government are aimed at ensuring an open, safe, trusted and accountable internet for users in the country amidst AI growth.

The Government is committed to harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the good of our  people  in  sectors  like  healthcare,  agriculture,  education,  Governanceand  others.  At  the  same time, the Government is cognizant of the risks posed by AI like Hallucination, bias, misinformation and deepfakes are some of the challenges posed by AI.

Government  has  constituted  an Advisory  Group  on  AI  for  India-specific  regulatory  AI framework under  the  chairmanship  of  Principal  Scientific  Advisor  (PSA)  to  Hon'ble  Prime Minister  of  India  with  diverse  stakeholders  from  academia,  industry  and  government  with  an objective  to  address  all  issues  related  to  development  of  Responsible  AI  framework  for  safe  and trusted development and deployment of AI. The report on AI Governance Guidelines Development emphasizes  the need for a coordinated, whole-of-government  approach  to ensure effective compliance and enforcement as India's AI landscape continues to evolve.Public consultation on the report  on  AI  Governance  Guidelines  Development  has  been  completed  and  more  than  100 suggestions have been received.

To  address  the  challenges  and  risks  of  AI  the Government is  cognizant  of  the  need  to  create guardrails  to  ensure  that  AI  is  safe  and  trusted .  Accordingly,  the  Central  Government  after extensive public consultations with relevant stakeholders has notified the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ('IT Rules, 2021') on 25.02.2021  which  was  subsequently  amended  28.10.2022  and  6.4.2023.  The  IT  Rules,  2021  cast specific legal obligations on intermediaries, including social media intermediaries and platforms, to ensure  their  accountability  towards  safe  and  trusted  internet  including  their  expeditious  action towards removal of the prohibited misinformation, patently false information and deepfakes. In case of failure of the intermediaries to observe the legal obligations as provided in the IT Rules, 2021, they lose their safe harbour protection under section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000

('IT Act') and shall be liable for consequential action or prosecution as provided under any extant law.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 has  been  enacted  on  11th  August,  2023  which casts obligations on Data Fiduciaries to safeguard digital personal data, holding them accountable, while also ensuring the rights and duties of Data Principals.

India  as  a  founding  member  and  current  council  chair  of  the  Global  Partnership  on  Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) has organized the Global IndiaAI Summit and GPAI Summit in July 2024 and December 2023 where various stakeholders from government, industry and academia engaged in discussions and deliberations for development of AI based solutions in a safe and trusted manner. India has taken lead in ensuring that AI is available for all and for developing global framework for safety & trust for AI models and applications.

With regard to the cases reported,  chargesheets drawn and convictions made regarding deepfakes and other unethical practices, there is no information available with this ministry.

The Government has taken various steps to protect the citizens from the adverse effects as follows:

- i) The  Indian  Computer  Emergency  Response  Team  (CERT-In)  issues  alerts  and  advisories regarding latest cyber threats/vulnerabilities including malicious attacks using Artificial Intelligence and countermeasures to protect computers, networks and data on an ongoing basis. In this context, an advisory on safety measures to be taken to minimize the adversarial threats arising from Artificial Intelligence (AI) based applications was published in May 2023.
2. ii) CERT-In conducts joint cyber security training programs in collaboration with Industry partners to upskill the cyber security workforce in Government, public and private organizations with the latest  skills.  Technical training  sessions  in  the area  of  AI-powered  cybersecurity  threats  were conducted  with  experts  from  Industry  to  help  the  participants  understand  the  latest  threat landscape and best practices.
3. iii) The  Certified  Security  Professional  in  Artificial  Intelligence  (CSPAI)  program  launched  by CERT-In and SISA in September 2024. The certification is approved by  the  ANSI  National Accreditation Board (ANAB) by meeting the ISO/IEC 17024 standard. The program aims to address the growing need for Secure and Responsible AI integration into business applications and processes. The CSPAI program equips cybersecurity professionals with the skills to secure AI  systems,  proactively  address  AI-related  threats,  and  ensure  trustworthy  AI  deployment  in business environments.
4. iv) CERT-In is one of the International partners to co-sign the joint high-level risk analysis report on  Artificial  Intelligence  (AI)  entitled  'Building  trust  in  AI  through  a  cyber-risk-based approach,' published by  the National Cybersecurity Agency  for  France (ANSSI) in February 2025. The report advocates for a risk-based approach to support trusted AI systems and secure AI value chains and calls for discussions on AI-related cyber risks and how to mitigate them to foster trusted AI development.
- v) CERT-In has published a  whitepaper  in  August  2023,  highlighting  the  increasing  attacks  on Application Programming Interface (API) and how AI can be useful in mitigating these attacks.
6. vi) CERT-In published 'Cyber Security Guidelines for Smart City Infrastructure' in February 2025 including measures for secure usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for smart city infrastructure and applications.

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