India requires a specialized AI cadre for effective governance of this technology

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India recently unveiled a report to guide the governance of artificial intelligence (AI), marking the country’s first structured vision in the era of Generative AI and transformative foundation models. While acknowledging AI’s far-reaching and cross-sectoral impact, the report risks repeating past governance missteps by leaning too heavily on a centralized vision.

The pro-innovation report commendably adopts a first-principles approach and considers the roles of diverse AI stakeholders—developers, deployers and end-users. It also highlights the need for multidisciplinary expertise from fields like law and economics. It aligns with global trends in discussing technology-driven governance tools such as water-marking of AI generated content to curb disinformation and the use of regulatory technologies for automating compliance.

The report also reflects on the fluid nature of AI governance and avoids taking too prescriptive a lens. However, it doesn’t go far enough. Despite advocating a ‘whole-of-government’ approach, it suggests setting up a centralized committee along with a technical secretariat.

This structure, while familiar, would fail to address the nuanced challenges posed by high-technology in areas such as sectoral regulation and public procurement. India’s regulatory bodies illustrate extant challenges in the sectoral oversight of tech markets. For instance, the Reserve Bank of India excels in monetary regulation, but has hesitated to fully engage with fintech innovations like virtual digital assets despite a dedicated fintech department and ample regulatory precedent globally.