AI Needs Regulation to Protect Users, Says IT Minister Vaishnaw

IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday that artificial intelligence requires regulation because of its complex user-safety dimension, even as the technology delivers significant benefits. He was speaking on the sidelines of SEMICON India 2026.

Vaishnaw said every new technology brings positives along with risks, which is why regulation has always had a role to play. That regulation, he said, is primarily about user safety.

In the case of AI, he described the safety challenge as very large and very complex. Unlike physical technologies such as nuclear power, where safety measures are easier to conceive, AI is harder to secure, he said.

The minister said the government is working with industry to find the right way of regulating, the right way of keeping AI safe, and the right way of keeping citizens safe in the online world.

His remarks come amid a global debate on how to capture AI's economic and societal gains while containing risks such as deepfakes, misinformation, fraud, privacy breaches, bias and the potential misuse of increasingly powerful systems.

Those concerns have sharpened after researchers and safety experts at leading AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, publicly warned about the risks posed by more capable AI systems, with some flagging the possibility of catastrophic consequences.

Governments, major technology firms, researchers and scientists are now trying to build regulatory and safety frameworks that protect users without holding back innovation.