Centre forms nodal body to coordinate, develop AI governance norms

The Centre on Thursday announced the formation of the AI Governance and Economic Group (AIGEG) to lead the country's national AI governance strategy. Set to serve as a high-level inter-ministerial body, it will coordinate the development of AI policy across central ministries and institutions.

The AI governance guidelines released by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in November last year had called for establishing the nodal body.

To be chaired by electronics and information technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, it will include minister of state for electronics & IT and Commerce & Industry Jitin Prasada as Vice Chairperson, as well as the Principal Scientific Advisor, the Chief Economic Advisor, and the NITI Aayog CEO as members.


Secretaries from MeitY, the Department of Telecommunications, the Department of Economic Affairs, the Department of Science and Technology, and a representative of the National Security Council Secretariat will also serve on the body.

It will be supported by a Technology and Policy Expert Committee (TPEC), which will offer expert advisory to the AIGEG on global developments, emerging technologies, risks, regulation, and other evolving priorities relating to AI policy and governance.

The body will have a wide-ranging mandate, from the review of existing mechanisms on AI, studying emerging risks of AI, regulatory gaps, and the need for legal amendments, to issuing guidelines to ensure that firms are held accountable for compliance with local laws on AI.

It will also work with industry and other stakeholders to develop a roadmap for AI deployment over the next decade, including assessment of job profiles affected, geographical concentration of impacts, and the extent of automation and augmentation.

Meanwhile, the recently established AI Safety Institute should act as the main body responsible for guiding safe and trusted development and use of AI in India.

The AI governance guidelines have called for potentially amending the Information Technology (IT) Act to classify artificial intelligence systems, create an India-specific risk assessment framework for AI, and a national database for AI-related security incidents.