Need to maintain balance between innovation, regulation: Ashwini Vaishnaw

IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is working with other countries to evolve a consensus on a framework to deal with AI and these are early days for the sector. In an interview with TOI on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit, the minister said that govt has used a combination of legal and technical solutions in dealing with IT and there is a need to strike a balance between regulation and development. He also touched upon the issue of restricting social media access to children and said that a solution will be based on discussion with stakeholders. Excerpts:

How do you strike a balance between regulation and development and how is govt approaching the subject?

The overwhelming sense is cautious optimism. People believe that this is a technology that can bring a major change in every sector of life and people are also aware of the harms which can come. India is working towards building a consensus — not just domestically, but globally — including with the Global South, to create a model of harmony. Overall, there is a shared view that a balance must be maintained between innovation and regulation. The thinking is about how AI technology can be used in a way that benefits every sector of the economy and every section of society.




Is it time for some sort of basic regulations and what areas would that be?

India's approach has been techno-legal approach, a combination of using technical solutions, and legal structures. That approach is now appreciated by the global community. Some geographies have in the past used only regulation or a legal approach. That has not really delivered the kind of results which are needed. The second thing which we observed here is that there are a lot of innovations left. This is probably the first innings of the first match of a test series. So lots and lots of innovation is still up there. The IT industry is also very cognizant of the challenges and they are pivoting very rapidly away from the old model to create a new model of providing services, from software as a service to AI-based services. There are thousands and thousands of legacy systems in the world. Those legacy systems will have to be modernized, and our IT services companies are best placed to modernize them, using the new AI-based solutions. That opportunity is now clearly visible. Industry is getting prepared for it and govt, academia, and industry are harmonized, we are synchronized to bring those solutions to the country.

PM Narendra Modi spoke about the need for IT services companies to graduate from merely providing services to developing products and platforms. How do you become enablers of this transition which have large cash piles with them? Are they investing enough to create products and platforms?

Yes, our IT industry initially is calibrating these changes. They were trying to measure what this change would bring to their sector based on what they have studied and what they've done over the last few years. Lots and lots of very focused, small models is what the IT industry is putting their emphasis on, which can be placed in an enterprise where trust is the most important factor. For example, if you have to put an AI model in the banking sector, then we can't have something which goes to a large language model or a frontier model because that would mean that the knowledge within that banking enterprise will go to the entire world and there is no there is no competitive advantage left. So, the IT industry has devised a bouquet of small models, and our sovereign models are complementing that. Today, models are commoditized already. So, a large number of models are available today, which can be used for providing that productivity gain.

What is your sense from your talks with 30 countries and evolving a consensus? What about the big tech companies and AI companies, what is their feedback?

They also understand the challenges and the opportunities, and they are very cognizant of the risks which are there. Big tech is pretty much working in sync with society and policymakers.

There is discussion around regulating social media access for children. How is govt dealing with it?

Social media is extremely powerful. There is the issue of freedom of expression and freedom of speech, but under India’s Constitution, there are defined responsibilities, of Parliament and of society, and serious deliberations are underway on these questions. There is a discussion going on what is the impact of social media on children and how it should be dealt with. Several countries have imposed restrictions and prohibitions and in India too, industry and public other stakeholders are discussing the issue. The right solution will emerge only through thoughtful deliberation.