Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's India visit, MoS IT says India has its own views on AI regulation

Just after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the need of regulating Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, India has announced that its upcoming Digital India Act will be responsible for setting guardrails for AI. Union Minister of State for IT and Electronics Rajeev Chandrasekhar told PTI that the Act will regulate AI and emerging tech through the ‘prism of user harm’.

Chandrasekhar added that India is determined to do ‘what is right’ to protect its digital nagriks and keep the internet safe and trusted for its users. Notably, Digital India Act will replace the current two-decade-old IT Act.

Notably, Chandrasekhar is leading the exercise that involves wide consultation with stakeholders to frame the draft Digital India Act. It is said that India has its own views on “guardrails” that are needed for the digital space in the country.

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For those who don’t know, ChatGPT maker OpenAI CEO is had recently suggested forming an international authority for regulating artificial intelligence. Talking about Altman’s opinion on the regulation of AI, Chandrasekhar said, “Sam Altman is obviously a smart man. He has his own ideas about how AI should be regulated. We certainly think we have some smart brains in India as well and we have our own views on how AI should have guardrails.”

“If there is eventually a United Nations of AI – as Sam Altman wants – more power to it. But that does not stop us from doing what is right for our digital nagriks (citizens) and keeping the internet safe and trusted,” he added.

Altman, in a blog post, stressed the importance of regulation for AI. He wrote, “Any effort above a certain capability (or resources like compute) threshold will need to be subject to an international authority that can inspect systems, require audits, test for compliance with safety standards, place restrictions on degrees of deployment and levels of security, etc."

He added that this agency should be responsible for reducing the ‘existential risk’ and not ‘issues that should be left to individual countries, such as defining what an AI should be allowed to say.

Altman is expected to visit India in June this year and might even meet up with some top government officials.

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