Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, has called for a balanced approach to address fake news while safeguarding freedom of speech, and is open to implementing new laws specific for AI.
Speaking in Parliament on December 11, he stressed the critical need for consensus on social media accountability and AI governance, hinting at the possibility of a new legal framework if society aligns on the matter.
Addressing concerns about fake news and misinformation, Vaishnaw remarked, “It is a major challenge that societies across the world are facing—the accountability of social media, particularly in the context of fake news and the creation of fake narratives.”
He underscored the importance of achieving societal and legal accountability, adding, “These are the issues where freedom of speech comes on one hand and accountability and having a proper real news network getting created, on the other hand. These are things which need to be debated and if the house agrees and if there is a consensus in the entire society we can come up with the new law.”
Indigenous AI Solutions for Privacy and Governance
The Minister highlighted government initiatives under the AI Mission aimed at addressing privacy and governance challenges through indigenous solutions. “To address the emerging landscape of AI, we have initiated eight projects aimed at creating tools and technologies within the country,” he noted.
The projects, developed under the “Safe & Trusted AI” Pillar, include:
- Machine Unlearning – IIT Jodhpur: Generative foundation models.
- Synthetic Data Generation – IIT Roorkee: Mitigating bias in datasets.
- AI Bias Mitigation Strategy – NIT Raipur: Responsible AI for healthcare.
- Explainable AI Framework – DIAT Pune and Mindgraph Technology: Privacy-preserving AI for security.
- Privacy Enhancing Strategy – Collaboration among IIT Delhi, IIIT Delhi, and others: Robust privacy-preserving ML models.
- AI Governance Testing Framework – Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham: Transparency and risk assessment for LLMs.
- AI Ethical Certification Framework – IIIT Delhi: Tools for fairness in AI models.
- AI Algorithm Auditing Tool – Civic Data Labs: Open-source framework for algorithmic auditing.
Vaishnaw emphasised India’s leadership in shaping global AI policies. “India is one of the leading countries in shaping global thought on AI governance. Last year, India became the chair of Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) and held the Summit this year,” he stated. He also noted India’s influence in international AI discussions with organisations like the OECD and United Nations.
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