AI law may be considered as time is getting right, Export curbs eased on Mythos: MeitY Secretary S Krishnan

New Delhi [India], July 3 (ANI): The Centre may begin work on a dedicated legal framework for artificial intelligence (AI) as the technology continues to evolve, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), S Krishnan, said on Friday, indicating that the government believes the time may be right to consider separate legislation to regulate AI.
Responding to a question from a reporter on AI regulations at the sidelines of a CII conference, Krishnan said discussions on a dedicated legal framework had commenced after the government had so far relied on existing legal provisions to address emerging challenges.
"My minister and I, both of us, have been on record earlier that we will look at AI regulation when the time is right and it appears that the time is getting right and we will start looking at it," he said.
Krishnan said the government has so far addressed AI-related concerns, including deepfakes and content labelling, through existing legal provisions instead of introducing a standalone law.
"We have used the IT Rules, we have used other provisions of existing law to address various concerns that AI raises, but now probably the time has come to look at a separate legislation to see how this is done," he said.
Asked when draft AI legislation could be expected, Krishnan said officials could prepare the legislative proposal but could not indicate when such a law might eventually be introduced.
"You see, the ministry and, at the official level, what we can do is prepare draft legislation. When it finally comes out is not something which I can comment on, especially when it is legislation," he said.
On access to advanced AI models, Krishnan said export restrictions on Anthropic's Mythos model had been eased. He, however, clarified that restrictions continue on Anthropic's next-generation models.
"What they have restricted is on Fable 5. Fable 5 and Mythos 5? Mythos 5 is still restricted to their GlassWing partners. And the GlassWing partners are the initial lot which are US companies. Anthropic wants to extend it to entities in 15 countries, which includes India," Krishnan said.
He added that extending access to entities in the 15 countries, including India, would require approval from the US government.
"Anthropic wants to extend it to entities in 15 countries, which includes India. But that still requires US government clearance. That is in process currently," he said.
The remarks come as governments across the world are exploring regulatory frameworks to address the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, amid growing concerns over misinformation, deepfakes, algorithmic transparency, privacy, copyright and accountability. (ANI)