New Delhi: India will release a consultation paper on artificial intelligence within a month, beginning a fresh effort to frame regulations addressing deepfakes, cybersecurity risks and other potential harms from the technology. The electronics and information technology minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said the exercise would place human welfare at its centre while examining skills, access and industry responsibility.
Vaishnaw announced the proposed consultation on Thursday at the New Delhi launch of the World Bank Group’s “World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence”. The event, jointly organized by the IndiaAI Mission and the World Bank Group, examined how developing economies could translate AI adoption into wider economic and social benefits.
The government will seek stakeholder feedback before deciding how to proceed with regulation. The one-month commitment therefore concerns the publication of a consultation document, rather than the introduction of an enforceable AI law within that period.
The minister identified increasingly convincing deepfakes as a major concern, warning that manipulated content could mislead people and spread false narratives. He also flagged cybersecurity, harm to users and possible psychological effects as issues requiring attention as AI becomes more deeply embedded in everyday life.
Vaishnaw argued that legislation alone would be insufficient and called for a “techno-legal” approach combining regulatory measures with technological safeguards. Companies developing and deploying AI would be expected to assume primary responsibility for addressing the risks associated with their products, although the consultation will help determine how those responsibilities are defined.
That approach has already featured in government policy discussions: a white paper from the office of the principal scientific advisor describes the use of standardized technical checks, audit trails and other mechanisms to make compliance measurable. It also argues for affordable safeguards that smaller businesses and public agencies can use as technologies and risks evolve.
The new exercise builds on the India AI Governance Guidelines unveiled on November 5, 2025. Those guidelines established principles for responsible development and deployment, recommendations for governance, a phased action plan and practical guidance for developers, businesses and regulators.
The earlier framework emphasized using existing legislation wherever possible while maintaining a flexible system for innovation and risk mitigation. A subsequent government explainer outlined proposed institutions including an AI Governance Group, a Technology and Policy Expert Committee and an AI Safety Institute, alongside recommendations for human oversight and controlled testing environments.
The forthcoming consultation could broaden the debate beyond manipulated images, audio and video to systems capable of taking actions independently. The ministry had been examining consent requirements for synthetic content, limits on autonomous AI agents and regulatory sandboxes for applications carrying greater risks.
Such agents can plan tasks, use external tools and carry out several steps with limited human supervision, raising questions about their authority and their retention or reuse of data. These subjects remain areas of policy deliberation; the announced consultation has yet to establish which restrictions, if any, the government will propose.
Another unresolved issue is responsibility for material produced by AI systems. The Indian Express noted that protections associated with platforms hosting users’ posts do not translate straightforwardly to services that generate responses, making the liability of developers and AI platforms an important part of the discussion.
The safety initiative is proceeding alongside an expansion of India’s AI infrastructure. Vaishnaw also announced plans for long-term procurement of 10,000 graphics processing units, beginning with a tender for 5,000 and providing suppliers with five years of demand visibility.
On the World Bank report launch, the government emphasized AI’s potential to extend expertise in healthcare, agriculture and education, while identifying electricity, connectivity, computing resources, data and skills as essential foundations. Under the IndiaAI Mission’s Safe & Trusted AI pillar, it is also supporting tools for bias mitigation, algorithm auditing, privacy protection and deepfake detection – capabilities relevant to turning the proposed safety framework into practice.