“I see this [advisory] as a step in the right direction as there was a backlash on the previous advisory. AI, especially genAI, is an emerging technology, and regulations will evolve as we go through this journey,” he said. “I think regulations are needed, especially considering this technology’s impact on people. The only question is what amount of regulation is needed. It is good to see the government moving in the right direction with an advisory to start with.”
The new advisory gives developers more freedom to innovate, while placing guardrails on usage.
“As technology evolves, we will see new use cases and, on the other hand, new concerns. The government needs to be agile in policy making and that is what is happening,” said Srinivasamurthy, adding that he expected government to keep working on finding the right balance between risk and innovation.
Akshara Bassi, senior analyst at Counterpoint, weighed in on the implications for AI model developers. “MeitY’s decision to remove the requirement for government approval before launching untested AI models will lead companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft to integrate their models and services directly into India’s existing app ecosystem,” she said. “This move is expected to make services smarter and shorten the time it takes to bring them to market.”
Bassi expects the move will promote the adoption of AI services as a fundamental feature in systems and applications, helping spread their use cost-effectively as enterprises will have a broader range of AI models to choose from.
“As the ecosystem in India is in nascent stages, the government is providing a boost by changing regulations to drive adoption of AI and boost indigenous AI platforms; however, as it matures, we would see more changes in the ecosystem from all stakeholders,” she said.
