MediaNama reported that India's IT minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said it is time to regulate AI. He spoke at the launch of the World Development Report 2026. He said he would ask his department for a consultation paper focused on safety. MediaNama said the ministry would release it within one month. He also named people-first design, scale, inclusion and harm from deepfakes, which are fake media that look real. MediaNama noted a change: in December 2025, ministry secretary S Krishnan favoured existing laws over a new one.
Vaishnaw said a law alone cannot regulate AI and called for a "techno-legal" fix. He said industry should carry most of the duty on cybersecurity, safety, user harm and deepfakes. MediaNama did not report what techno-legal means in practice. It also said it is unclear whether the consultation will be public or limited to chosen stakeholders. No draft text has been reported.
This is our reading, not the minister's: a duty placed on industry is a duty that must sit inside products. Buyers of AI tools can ask each vendor which safety and security controls it runs today, and who is liable when they fail.